


Immortal? Not Exactly

by AOS100



Series: Catra Applesauce Meowmeow [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (after), ? - Freeform, Angst, Bow Needs A Break, Catra (She-Ra) Acts Like a Cat, Catra dies a lot, Catra-centric (She-Ra), Concussions, Crack Treated Seriously, Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Don't worry nobody stays dead, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Feelings are dealt with in a healthy way, Fluff, How Do I Tag, I genuinely don't know what to label this, Lakes, Let Catra (She-Ra) Say Fuck, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Outer Space, Panic Attacks, Perfuma gets high, Post-Canon, Swearing, a good amount of it, catnip, drug use?, i don't know what this is, idk tbh, my tags are weird, space trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29606046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AOS100/pseuds/AOS100
Summary: 8 times Catra dies post-canon and 1 time she doesn’tor“She looked back towards Catra to see an almost maniacal smile on Catra’s face while muttering a quiet ‘Fuck yeah,’ as she started to sit up.With the movement, the entire group was taken out of their stupor and they simultaneously made a move to help or comfort or question the catgirl who apparently was not dead.Scorpia’s voice was the loudest of the clamor in the room, shouting an almost amused, ‘Again Catra? Really,’”
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Entrapta & Scorpia (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Mermista (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: Catra Applesauce Meowmeow [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790464
Comments: 54
Kudos: 105





	1. The Unknowing Audience

**Author's Note:**

> Do I know what this is? No.  
> Do I know why I wrote this? No.  
> Did I write this instead of finishing any of the other WIPs I have? Yes.  
> Do I like this? I’m not sure.
> 
> I don't own the characters or anything and I have no beta.

Adora didn’t really know how to describe the event. The cliches of ‘it happened so fast’ and ‘it went in slow motion’ were battling inside her head as they mixed with momentary grief, though she was not currently aware of the ‘momentary’ part. 

Micah had gone to Mystacor for some magical scrolls that he and Glimmer were researching, and that left the Queen to stay in Brightmoon and call an Alliance meeting to check up on everyone and overall make sure everyone was keeping out of trouble, something that there had been hints of the past couple of months. It only took 2 years after the war had ended for trouble to stir up again, and everyone was still getting their bearings, really.

The princesses had just arrived and taken their seats when out of the peripheral of her eye, Catra saw a suspicious-looking guard standing too close to her for her comfort. She didn’t mention anything though, seeing as how there were still several people wary of her in the castle, and if a guard felt safer believing that they could stop whatever she wanted to do, she let them. 

It wasn’t until another disheveled guard burst into the room where the conversation was just starting that Catra realized how much of a mistake her silence was. The guard next to her quickly stepped up to the man who had just entered and knocked him out with the blunt side of the spear, alerting the other princesses to the danger now in the room. As they stood up, however, they weren’t quick enough to stop the impostor quickly spinning the spear and stabbing it right through Catra, whose eyes were now wide with surprise and mouth agape with blood spilling out. She had been the closest to him, and likely the target with how sure the fake guard was with the killing.

All the princesses in the room stood in momentary shock at the gruesome display before rage took over and soon the lonely murderer saw the entirety of the rebellion charging at him, She-ra leading the group and looking as murderous as ever. 

He didn't stand a chance and was doomed within the second. 

It was only after the murder was taken care of that the princesses and allies turned around to see a red-maned and gloomy-looking melog curled around Catra's collapsed and limp body. 

Adora shrunk from her She-ra form and brought a hand up to her mouth to stifle a heavy sob. Everyone in the room was crying, even Mermista had tears in her eyes, but it was clear that Adora was suffering the most. 

Her girlfriend, who she'd promised to protect and never abandon now that the war was over, was now lying with unseeing eyes on the floor because of a meager nuisance, someone who was a nobody that had simply managed to get lucky enough to sneak past the guards. 

She could hardly believe her eyes, and she was about to start backtracking into denial when a sudden inhale was heard throughout the room. Most importantly, Catra’s chest heaved when it happened. So quickly that Adora almost missed it, Catra’s previously unfocused eyes blinked and her head turned to face the entire group. 

Once again in shock, Adora turned to look at the rest of the princesses to make sure she wasn't going crazy, but the faces on the rest of them didn't make things any clearer for her. She looked back towards Catra to see an almost maniacal smile on Catra’s face while muttering a quiet “Fuck yeah,” as she started to sit up.

With the movement, the entire group was taken out of their stupor and they simultaneously made a move to help or comfort or question the catgirl who apparently was not dead.

Scorpia’s voice was the loudest of the clamor in the room, shouting an almost amused, “Again Catra? Really,” she still had tears in her eyes but a watery chuckle managed to escape.

Catra let out a weak snicker and Melog’s mane turned a light pinkish-orange out of delightment for seeing his friend alive again, “Sorry, I genuinely thought that was it,” she grimaced, recalling just how dreadful it had felt to remember that her nine lives had run out and she was about to die permanently, though it seems she was spared.

“Oh my stars, I completely forgot about that,” Adora finally spoke up, tears basically gone and an amazed smile on her face. The memory of her girlfriend’s first death popped up in her mind.

“Forgot about what? What the fuck is going on?” Glimmer was completely disoriented, seeing as how she knew nothing about why Catra was suddenly alive after seeing one of her best friends get speared.

“Yeah, this bitch literally just came back to life, resurrected, revived, resurged-” 

“We get it, Mermista,” Catra interrupted, though she didn’t really want to. It was fun seeing the usually calm and cool water princess be absolutely bewildered.

Scorpia and Adora looked at each other with knowing eyes. They had actually bonded over freaking out about Catra dying right in front of them and then waking up like nothing happened. It was their thing. 

“Er, so, actually-”

“Catra has-  _ had _ nine lives so she can basically just die and wake up… it’s normal.”

Scorpia and Adora had both gradually made their way over to Catra’s side of the room, who was still lying under Melog on the floor and were left to watch the realization flood the Rebellion’s faces.

Out of everyone, it was Glimmer who spoke first, face morphed into one of minimal anger and annoyance, “Is that why you’re so damn hard to kill?! Unbelievable! It is so unfair that I pummeled your ass and you  _ still _ didn’t stay down only because you came back to life!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now I wouldn’t say  _ pummeled- _ ”

“I DROPPED A WAREHOUSE ON YOUR ASS.”

“IT DOESN’T MEAN YOU KILLED ME THAT TIME.”

Catra was now sitting up vehemently, though her glare was less terrifying with a giant cat on her.

Glimmer narrowed her eyes, “I killed you that time… I just know it! SAY IT.”

“...” Catra was tempted to refuse, but she turned to Adora and saw her with her arms crossed and a lifted eyebrow, waiting. Damn she was whipped, “ugh, fine. Yes… I died there.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you very well. Can you repeat that?”

Bow stepped to Glimmer’s side, “Glim, are you sure-”

“YES BOW, I WANNA KNOW.”

Bow pursed his lips and silently nodded, backing away and retreating to the safety of the other princesses who were curiously awaiting an answer as well.

After a few moments, Catra broke, “YES! Fine! You killed me when you dropped the beam on me, it was a bit slower considering I had  _ just _ been electrocuted, but I wasn’t lying when I said you tasted like glitter!”

“HA, I knew it! I won that battle-”

Catra was still grumbling about how it wasn’t fair that Glimmer her sparkle powers while the girl in mention continued to celebrate her belated victory, but the rest of the Rebellion looked at the pair in mild fear as they casually had an entire conversation about Catra dying and Glimmer was cheering because she killed her friend, although they hadn’t been friends in the moment so she assumed it was okay. (It was not okay, but whatever)

It wasn’t until Catra looked up again from her muttering that she registered the dried tear stains on the princess’s faces, “Wow, were you guys really that worried?”

Perfuma nearly had an aneurysm, “Of course we were! We thought our friend had died. I bet Frosta’s traumatized-”

“I’m not.”

“I think we’re ALL traumatized! We just saw our friend die!”

Bow nodded his assent, eyes wide with tears still in the corners, “We were so worried! You even made Entrapta go all angry!”

Entrapta called from the back of the group, “I am currently testing some new tech on this person,” proving Bow’s point.

“Yeah like, only  _ I’m  _ allowed to attack you like that... and Glimmer… and Frosta. We can’t do that if you’re dead,” Mermista was trying to keep it non-sappy but everybody knew she got on surprisingly well with Catra and her ‘cool vibes’.

Spinnerella and Netossa were nodding along with the rest of the group, “Yeah! I would’ve lost my sparring partner,” Netossa reminded Catra of their own little bonding with competitiveness.

Spinnerella decided to just state the plain truth, “We care about you dearly, Catra.”

Tears sprung into Catra’s eyes as she realized everyone in the room cared about her, she belonged and she wasn’t just there because they let her. She was there because they wanted her to be, “Gee guys, I.. care about you guys too, or whatever,” she turned her head down and let a small smile appear.

Scorpia lifted Catra up from the floor to Melog’s protests, and pulled her into a hug which was quickly followed by Adora, and then everyone else until Catra was thoroughly smooshed. For once, Catra didn’t complain. 

“Alright now we’re going to let the healers look you over to make sure you’re fine and then you’ll take a shower to wash off all that blood,” Adora still wanted to make sure Catra was 100% okay.

Catra was miffed but she reluctantly agreed and was coddled the whole day by not-so-subtle princesses checking up on her.


	2. We All Question Glimmer's Sanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we get a multitude of things!  
> -Crazy Glimmer  
> -Soft Catra  
> -Worried Adora  
> -Talking our feelings out  
> -Some cardiac arrest edu  
> -Super Pal Trio bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I just want to say thank you for all the support on the last chapter, it is literally what is driving me to do anything and everything in my life. Reading the comments was the highlight of my day, and I hope this chapter is up to your guys’ standards.
> 
> Credits for this one go out to vinnywrites and LynxWilde. Thanks for the ideas! I kind of combined the ‘Glimmer accidentally kills Catra’ and ‘Catra gets killed by something stupid’ ones. (That felt like I was hosting an award show) Anyway, let's get onto the chapter!
> 
> I don't own anything, and I have no Beta : )

“Adora, would you quit whining already? She’s gonna be fine! Pissed, but fine!”

“But what if-”

“NO. No ‘wHaT iFs. We’re doing this, and that’s final!”

Adora groaned. She and Glimmer had been planning to prank Catra for weeks now. She had been totally on board at the beginning, just as enthusiastic as Glimmer was right now, but she was starting to want to back out. The prank-planning haze was starting to clear out, and post-Bow’s explanation on why their prank was extremely dangerous the day prior, she was starting to see just how bad the machinery was.

They had recruited Entrapta for this, her expertise in bot-building a crucial part of the prank. It was a ten-foot-tall replica of the Horde’s bots. The only difference this time was that Glimmer was manning it from the safety of the castle walls with a remote control. No, they had not seen any problems with this before in their three weeks of planning. 

In fact, they had considered it relatively safe. The war had been over for two years already. Sure, trouble had been stirring up, but no one had seen a Horde bot in that entire time, and if the bot were to malfunction, it would shut down if it was out of the mile-radius surrounding the castle grounds, right before it would be entering the Whispering Woods. The bot didn’t even have the original disintegrating lasers! It would just shock Catra a bit! (No, Glimmer still saw no flaws in this plan) It was just enough to ruffle her fur, perfectly safe!

* * *

It was common knowledge that the Best Friend Squad shared a brain cell between the four of them. Sometimes more, sometimes less now that Catra was a part of it. Bow seemed to be the one with the brain cell that week. When Glimmer and Adora had come to try and get him to join in on the prank against Catra, he reluctantly agreed, not knowing what it was that was actually going on. When Adora further explained, however, he immediately backed out. As a member of the Etherian Makers Community, he instantly saw how many things could go wrong with the bot. There were too many variables to consider, and using it as a prank wasn’t a good idea. 

He recited all this to the pair. They ignored him. He sighed, realizing he was likely going to be scolding someone this week.

* * *

Adora had escaped Glimmer’s clutches. Sure, she had heard the echoes of “Adora get back here,” bouncing around the castle walls for the past half-hour, but she was sure that Glimmer wasn’t going to find her in this little spot. She and Catra had made a little nest of blankets inside a castle tower that had been built over. It was possible that even Glimmer didn’t know about this spot, seeing as it had been filled with cobwebs, spiders, and rats. (Of course, Catra had Adora clear out the rats. They got rid of the spiders together.)

“So, why’s Sparkles storming around the castle? The guards are getting scared.”

Adora jumped, “Stars, Catra! You scared me!”

Catra lifted a brow,  _ Care to explain why?  _ it said.

“I’m being hunted,” Adora whispered in a low voice.

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s Glimmer. She’s looking for me, that’s why she’s so mad.”

“What did you do?”

Adora was a bit reluctant to give up the prank information so easily. For all she knew, Glimmer had sent Catra out to find her, and she had fallen into a trap. She narrowed her eyes, “Prove it.”

Catra tilted her head to the side and her ear flopped a bit, “What? What do you mean ‘Prove it’?”

_ Awww, she looks so cute- Focus, Adora!,  _ “Prove, that you don’t already know what’s going on. Prove that Glimmer didn’t send you here to capture me so she can torture me,” she put on a brave face and awaited Catra’s answer. 

Catra smiled at her and rolled her eyes, muttering a ‘dummy,’ before leaning in and capturing Adora’s lips in a soft kiss. “That enough proof for you?”

Adora melted and a goofy smile adorned her face,  _ yeah, that’s good. _ “Mhmm, totally,” She giggled.

“So?”

“Uhh- right- Glimmer and I were gonna prank you with this giant fake bot so she could shock you a couple of times but then Bow told us no and then I used the brain cell for a little bit and then I backed out but Glimmer won’t let me,” she finished her ramble, “hehe.”

“Really?”

“I love you?”

“Sure.”

“I do!”

“Hmmm, okay.”

Almost right away, a devious smile grew on Catra’s face. Adora knew she was coming up with something amazing, and an impatient expression took over. 

“What is it,” Adora was buzzing in her seat. 

“I think I know of a way to get back at Sparkles,” she was brainstorming and a familiar glint appeared in her eyes. Adora absolutely loved it.

“Can I be a part of it?”

“You already are, princess.”

* * *

Everything was set up. Catra had Adora go back to Glimmer, her acting talent decent for once. Once they had Glimmer convinced that Adora was back on board and that Catra was clueless about the entire thing, they kept up the act until a couple of hours later, when the prank would take place.

Adora let Glimmer put everything in place on their side. The bot was placed in sleeping mode in the gardens where Catra would show up alone as everyone else in the castle was instructed to stay inside. Bow was in his and Glimmer’s room, not wanting to get even more dragged into the plan, but would be watching through the cameras perched on the roofs of the castle, just in case. The girls would be in another room where Glimmer would be looking through the same cameras, controlling the bots’ movements, and aiming the copper wires with electrodes attached to shoot at Catra. Everything was going to plan.

* * *

Bow was tinkering with a new little invention, something he didn’t get to do so often as Prince Consort of Glimmer.

He was worried about Glimmer’s little prank, but he figured nothing  _ really _ bad could happen. Oh, how wrong he was.

His tracker pad vibrated, announcing a video call from Entrapta. Why would she be calling?

“Hey, Entrapta!”

“Hi, Bow! Is Glimmer there?”

“Er, no, she’s busy with that bot you made her. Why?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to reach her. I forgot to let her know that she can’t go over the 150 milliamps mark on the hand lever of the control if she's using it on a person! It goes up to 10 amps, and that will make a person go into cardiac arrest because of how high I made the power! She didn’t specify what the bot was for, but I figured it was important to inform her of that, just in case!” Entrapta had an unknowing smile on her face. Oh, how he wished he could do the same.

“Stars, thanks Entrapta gotta go bye,” Bow quickly hung up the call and ran out of the room. On the tracker pad, he could see the bot already standing. He slammed the door so hard on his way out that the guards startled, but he paid them no mind as he rushed to stop Catra from dying.

* * *

“Sparkles? Where are you? You asked me to come,” Catra was walking slowly around the gardens, calling out for Glimmer who was already giggling next to Adora.

Adora, however, was giggling for a different reason. She was glad she could, otherwise, she would have had a hard time keeping up an act, unlike Catra, who was pulling off ‘confused and curious’ pretty well.

Glimmer pushed the ‘on’ button on the hand remote, and they watched Catra back up a little as the giant bot pushed itself upon its four legs and a mound of dirt that was previously hiding it fell from the top.

“Woah,” Catra was not aware of how big the bot actually was, but she figured it wouldn’t be too bad… right?

Glimmer glanced at the remote. 4 levels. 50 mA, 150 mA, 4 amp, and 10 amp. She wasn’t sure what any of those meant, but she moved the lever to the first level and pushed the joystick forward to make the bot charge at Catra. They watched Catra jump into action immediately dodging the robot’s stomps. It was pretty slow, considering how big and bulky the machine was, “Ughh this is boring, I’m gonna aim the wires.”

“Ok, just- be careful alright, we don’t want to-” Adora cut off as the wires shot out of a small compartment on the bot and the electrodes made contact with Catra’s left arm.

Glimmer cackled as Catra’s fur stood up on end, and Adora snorted, “She looks so poofy!”

They shook with laughter as they watched Catra try and pat down the fur, only to have it extend outwards more.

“I’m going to put it up a couple of levels, see what it does,” Glimmer pushed up the lever to 150 mA.

It made Adora a little uneasy, “Glimmer, we don’t really know how the thing works, maybe we should just stick to what we know.”

“What we know is that so far the plan is going well, what’s a little more power,” she aimed the wires again, confirmed the target, and-

“GLIMMER WAIT,” Bow burst into the room, startling both of the girls.

Glimmer yelped and dropped the remote, pushing the lever to 10 amps and setting off the launch button.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they looked towards the camera only to see Catra get violently electrocuted and collapse on the ground, practically steaming.

“WHAT THE HELL BOW,” complained Glimmer.

He whined, “I came here to tell you exactly not to do that!”

“Well, you failed!”

Adora seemed to be the most concerned about her girlfriend, “Uh, guys? Maybe we should, oh, I don’t know, CHECK ON CATRA WHO ISN’T MOVING!” She urged everyone out of the monitor room and Glimmer teleported them to the garden, where the bot sat shut off next to a smoking Catra (Literally, we all know Catra is smoking hot but she is literally smoking here).

Adora kneeled down, hands hovering over the catgirls body, unsure of whether she should touch her or not, a few minutes passed “Catra? C’mon, wake up now… it isn’t funny anymore. Please?”

“Adora, Entrapta said she would go into cardiac arrest if we went above the 150 mA level, especially if the timing of the shocks was long. Maybe we just need to give her some time to revive?”

“No no she- we were going to prank Glimmer, she was going to pretend to die, and then she wouldn’t wake up when Glimmer went to check up on her. She should be getting up by now anyway, she has to!”

Standing off on the side, Glimmer wrung her hands around her wrists. Face bent with guilt and worry. She realized they never actually confirmed if Catra had gained all nine lives back, or if it was just a lucky miscalculation on the last one. She kneeled down next to Adora, “C’mon Horde scum, you got me pranked! Now wake up! That’s an order,” tears formed in everyone’s eyes again, it hadn’t taken this long last time, but Catra was still limp on the grass.

“If you wake up I’ll give you the next three spiders?”

“I’ll make sure Mermista doesn’t call you furball for at least a day?”

“I’ll- I’ll make you the- Adora what does she want to do,” Everyone attempted to bribe Catra back from her death, but Glimmer was desperate to find out what it was that she wanted.

Adora sniffled, “Um, she wants to be a cool guard person,” it put a smile on everyone’s faces. Of course Catra would find a way to make that sound cool.

“I’ll make you the Official Princess Alliance guard! Please? You’ll be super important and stuff,” she paused, “I’ll even pay you!” Glimmer kept blabbering on about how cool she would be and how everyone would have to follow her orders and how much stuff she could buy and how she could brag to Mermista and Netossa. Nothing worked. Adora’s previous sniffles turned into full-on sobs as the minutes passed by and there was no response.

“I told you to not put the level up,” Adora suddenly stood, towering above Glimmer, angry and red-faced.

“I’m so sorry, Adora. I- I didn’t mean it,” Glimmer didn’t feel the need to defend herself, this was her fault and she was going to take whatever Adora threw at her.

Suddenly, Adora’s eyes flashed blue and for a moment, Glimmer was terrified as the blonde turned into She-ra, but a frowning Adora turned to face Catra and was about to kneel down to try and heal Catra when the catgirl was heard muttering “Fight, fight, fight,” and she let out a weak chuckle as her eyes pried open.

“Catra!” Everyone cried out in relief.

“The one ‘n only,” she groaned as she sat up, “I thought I was supposed to  _ pretend  _ to die, and what the hell Sparkles? A bit much don’t you think? I know I’m hard to kill but it was a bit overkill,” she finished with a cocky smile.

Glimmer sobbed as she went to carefully hug Catra, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it I swear and I’ll do everything I said… if you heard it,”

Catra let out a small ‘oh’ as she felt Glimmer envelop her, “I totally heard everything Sparkles, I could hear everything, I just couldn't move… I think I was paralyzed. I get to be super cool and get paid too now huh?”

“Stars, yes, Horde Scum, you get to be the Official Princess Alliance guard, maybe you can put those lives to good use,” she smiled and let go of Catra, who was thankfully no longer steaming.

Adora spoke up, a bit shyly, “‘m sorry about getting all mad at you Glimmer. I really thought she was gone, but I know it was an accident. It wasn’t your fault.”

The reassurance put Glimmer at ease, but, “It’s okay. It was kind of my fault, and I get that you were upset.”

Bow, who was watching the entire ordeal, awwed, “Thank the stars! I thought I was going to have to stop you guys from punching out your feelings. Look at you! You guys are talking them out instead! I’m so proud!”

Everyone blushed a bit, he wasn’t wrong. 

"Ughh, okay now everybody help me up, I'm sore from dying," Catra flailed her arms, waiting for someone to grab them. "Where'd you guys even get that bot from?"

Adora sneered sheepishly, " Entrapta made it, actually. We didn't exactly tell her what it was for though."

Glimmer pondered, " I feel like I should be concerned that she made it so easily, without question."

"Eh, she's just enthusiastic, plus, she hasn't made a bot in years. I'm sure she had fun with it," Catra defended the purple-haired princess.

Adora, the ever worried girlfriend spoke up, "Speaking of Entrapta, we'll be taking you to Dryl so she can confirm that you have seven lives left, and to make sure that the electrocution didn't leave any permanent damages."

"Wow Adora, did you borrow the brain cell from Arrow boy for a second there," Catra and Glimmer snickered.

Adora knew what game Catra was playing, she didn't want to go to Dryl and was trying to tease her out of it, " Yes, actually, I did. So we're going to Dryl."

Catra groaned as Glimmer teleported right into Entrapta's lab.

The whole group was thankful that there was no imminent danger in the room, and also for the fact that Hordak wasn't present. They were sure Catra wouldn't appreciate him watching her heave in this state.

"Oh hi Bow! Did you get the message to Glimmer?"

"Not in time, we need you to check up on Catra, and make sure she's okay."

"Why!? Did something happen? Can I collect some data?" 

“Actually, Catra died again, we accidentally shot her with the 10 amp level and she was paralyzed for a bit after she came back. We just want to make sure she’s alright.”

“10 amp! No wonder she died! It makes sense that she was paralyzed! Set her down here!”

Entrapta pushed a chair on wheels towards the group, and once Catra stopped heaving, they sat her down and Entrapta took her vitals, “Well, your heart rate and respiration rate are a bit slow, but some time to rest should fix that. Your body temperature is a bit high,”

“Well, I was just fried to death.”

“No lasting burn scars, blood pressure is okay, and no long-term brain damage! It seems like any side-effects you might have had were healed when you came back to life, but I recommend not dying by cardiac arrest anymore, or by heart attack!”

“Wait, so that wasn’t a heart attack that she had? I thought cardiac arrest and heart attacks were the same thing because her heart stopped,” Glimmer was confused, didn’t Catra’s heart stop? She could have sworn that’s why she died.

“Nope! Cardiac arrest is an electrical problem in the body! Hence the electrocution! Heart attacks are a circulation problem, typically caused because of high blood pressure!”

“Ah yes, such a big difference,” Glimmer’s sarcasm covered up her confusion.

“It really is! And... I’m glad you’re okay Catra! I’m 90% sure that you gained back your nine lives when She-ra healed you, but we would need a third occasion in order to confirm it,” Entrapta hummed and used her hair to stroke her chin, “Can I collect some data the next time you die?”

“Sure ‘trapta. It might be a while though,” Catra felt like she owed Entrapta all the data in the world, and any she could give her would be good.

“Hopefully,” Adora reinforced the idea, as well as the rest of the best friend squad who was nodding along.

Entrapta added, “Before I forget! It would be best if you kept active and ate healthy foods for at least the rest of the week! I know that essentially, you are already healed, but just in case.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks, Entrapta.”

* * *

Catra spent the rest of the week chasing the best friend squad around the castle, giving them little shocks every time they came into contact.

“Stop it! You’re making my hair stand!”

“NO, THAT’S WHAT YOU GET, SPARKLES.”

“I wasn’t even part of the prank!”

“DOESN’T MATTER ARROW BOY.”

“Catra! You’re making my hair look weird!”

“IT ALWAYS LOOKS WEIRD WITH YOUR STUPID POOF.”

Even Mermista suffered when she stopped by, “Get back here! I will DRENCH YOU.”

“You’re gonna have to catch me first, Fishy,” Catra called out, cackling the entire time as she ran on all fours, only serving to increase the friction between her fingertips.

When Scorpia and Perfuma came by, however, Scorpia was spared on the prospect that she would team up with Catra and chase people around the castle with her, sending little shocks as they went.

Soon enough, even the guards had no chance of escape, and when Entrapta joined in with a baby taser, the Super Pal Trio reigned over all, laughing as the entirety of Brightmoon was electrified. 

It was only until Micah came back that a stop was put to the chaos on the promise that they could have an entire stock of cake and that they didn’t have to share it with anyone. Of course, Catra shared with Adora, because the doofus kept whining that she was deliberately giving Catra the next three spiders already. Scorpia shared with Perfuma on the promise that she would get some catnip for Catra, and Entrapta shared with Wrong Hordak, who decided he wanted to bake more cake for everyone.

“Hey Sparkles, maybe you should electrocute me more often.”

“NO.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The literal draft for a scene:  
> -Later: “Maybe we should put those lives to better use”  
> (And that’s how Catra becomes a guard n shit) 
> 
> On that note, I have the next two chapters planned out already, I just have to get started on writing them. If you have any more ideas on how to kill Catra, please, share. I really hope I didn't let anyone down with this chapter I wrote it all in a day because I just had so much time and I was at a peak after reading all the comments last time, but I won't be getting time like this until probably Friday night, so the next chapter will take longer to be posted. I did, however, do some research on like, electricity and cardiac arrest and stuff, so everything you read in the story will likely be decently accurate, but I don't really know because it's also all from Google.
> 
> I'm still not 100% on the tone of this, but I think it has a similar vibe to my other work 'Spider'. Some of you have already checked it out, and I'm not like- trying to self promote or anything I know my writing is shit- but I do have little baby references to it here, not enough that it doesn't really make sense, but you might be able to spot them out more if you read that. Again, you don't have to! Just putting it out there!
> 
> Also, I know I'm rambling, but if anyone cares to respond I wanted to know, Do I pace these too fast? Or, like, too slow? Idk I'm kind of wondering about that. Should I spend more or less time setting things up? 
> 
> Again, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is appreciated. ♥


	3. Perfuma Gets High and Becomes a Murderer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credits to this one go to >.> (Idk how to make the username appear but it's legit the 1st comment on the 1st chapter ToT) for the idea that one of the princesses gives Catra something to eat that kills her through a seizure! Amazing! As for this chapter, I have a headcanon and it seems like a lot of the rest of the fandom also has made it fanon that Perfuma gets high with Catra on occasion. BY THE WAY, there is a very descriptive scene of Perfuma, like, getting her blunt ready and smoking and shit, but I AM SO SORRY IF I SOUND STUPID I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WEED OR SMOKING OR ANYTHING I HAD TO GOOGLE HOW TO SMOKE. Also!!! Catra has a seizure in this chapter idk if that requires a warning!!!!
> 
> By the way I don’t own any characters and I have no beta, everything is written past midnight : D

There was a scoreboard now, for the people who had killed Catra. Glimmer was in first place, obviously, as she insisted on counting the first time she had killed Catra in the war. The other princesses argued that then Adora would have to count all the times Catra had died  _ because  _ of her and the need to be dramatic, but Adora refused as she knew Catra was a dramatic little shit anyway. But least expected, Perfuma was in second place. One would have assumed that the holder of that position would have been someone like Frosta or Mermista, but the irony of it being the arguably most gentle princess was incredible.

Said princess insisted against it every time they saw each other, but no one could deny the fact that Perfuma had cost Catra a life, accident or not.

Even worse, Perfuma hadn’t even been fully aware when it happened, “I was not in the right of mind! I think that can be excused!”

Mermista was especially persistent on it, “Nobody cares  _ how  _ you did it Perfuma, what matters is that it happened. Maybe we could have, I don’t know, ignored it if she hadn’t actually died, but she did,” she flopped an arm over to Catra’s direction, “Unacceptable. She’s gonna run out of lives before I get to kill her at this point.”

The flower-princess looked towards her victim, “Catra? Please believe that anything I did to cause your death was unintentional. I can get you more catnip!”

Catra glanced at her from her lounging position in the alliance break room, “Oh I believe it, Petals. We  _ all  _ have the evidence. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen though.” 

The group of relaxing princesses and plus all looked at Perfuma, who had a horrified and desperate look on her face. They all held in snorts and cackles, even Scorpia, though she managed to lean over and comfort the princess. They were never going to let this go.

Seahawk, on his part, was going to be singing shanties about the event for the rest of his life.

* * *

**The Previous Weekend:**

“Hey! Mermista just texted me that she’s not busy!” Glimmer had been taking a break from all the paperwork she had to deal with that day. All the requests and letters from delegations of the other towns and kingdoms had been tiring. Though, Catra didn’t seem to think so. Honestly, she was just as much of a workaholic as Adora. It was probably a Horde thing.

The girl in question looked up from her papers in mild surprise, “Really? Well, if she can get a break right now, the other princesses probably aren’t busy either.”

Glimmer shot up from her lying position on the floor, startling Catra, “Oh my stars, do you know what this means?!”

She eyed the princess warily. Almost three years with them and she still didn’t know what to expect half the time. She had been dead wrong when she had told Horde Prime that the princesses were so predictable. Glimmer was a menace when it came to spontaneous planning, “Uh, no?”

She braced for impact as she heard more than saw Glimmer teleport to her side in a shower of sparkles, “PRINCESS ALLIANCE SURPRISE SLEEPOVER!!!!!”

Catra groaned as she realized she wasn’t going to get any more work done today. Her climb up the ranks of Brightmoon military was cut short, as was her response streak for the request to a lobby for the mayor of another random-ass town. She saw Glimmer’s glow again, indicating that she was about to teleport and her eyes widened, “Wait N-”

Catra’s protests were drowned out in the sudden disappearance and reappearance of noise at the pair’s arrival to the small workshop where Bow did his tech work. Luckily, Adora was also present, simply watching Bow work while she did some mapping of a new space route that Entrapta had found. They were planning on heading to their space trip within the year, so Entrapta’s course findings were great, and Adora’s new hobby of cartography definitely helped.

Catra heaved as Adora moved to her side, already rubbing circles on her back to help ease the nausea, “I really hate when you do that, Sparkles.”

Glimmer, on her side, looked indifferent, “Whatever. BOW. Guess what,” She didn’t give him a chance to guess, stars in her eyes, “Mermista’s not busy today! Which means NOBODY is busy today!”

Bow’s eyes mirrored Glimmer’s, stars growing in his eyes as well, “So we get a princess alliance sleepover?!”

“Yeah!”

Catra faked a gag. They were perfect for each other.

* * *

On her end, Perfuma was having a relaxing day. Sure, Scorpia wasn’t with her, currently preoccupied with some menial revisions of the Fright Zone’s- now the newly rebuilt Scorpioni Kingdom’s- old records. There wasn’t really much to do, considering Catra had already done everything needed with them during her time running the Horde. It was really just having something to do at this point.

To be honest, she was thankful. Even without Scorpia present to spend quality time together, Perfuma’s day had gone wonderfully. First, she did her scheduled meditation and drum circle with the other Plumerians. After, she had managed to teach a new group of citizens how to use the medicinal properties of certain herbs and they were fresh on their way to the next mentor, beginning in their journey to graduate and become professionals in the subject. Now evening, she was sitting in her meditation room, preparing a blunt with her dried out and ground cannabis, and tobacco, using only a damp brush to seal the thing and slowly began to rotate it as she put the end over the flame of her lighter. As soon as she was sure it was ready, she brought it up to her mouth and inhaled for about two seconds, feeling it enter her lungs before releasing again.

Before she knew it, a feeling of euphoria washed over her, unaware of exactly how much time had passed. She knew she was hungry though. She moved to stand up from her plush seats on the floor, but before she could reach her small stash of snacks, she got a call on her tracker pad from Glimmer.

Reaching over to answer, she fumbled a bit before sliding the answer button and greeting the Queen of Brightmoon with a giggly, “Glimmer!”

“Hey, Perfuma! We just wanted to let you know that the princess alliance is having a sleepover today! Are you coming?”

A pixelated Bow appeared in the corner of the screen, adding, “If you’re not too busy, it’ll be fun!”

“Of course! Want me to bring some snacks,” the eager flower-princess asked. She was likely to take some regardless of the answer.

“Sure! A- Hey!”

The screen showed a smirking Catra shoving Glimmer’s face away from the screen, “Hey, bring me some of that catnip stuff Scorpia told me about…,” she could be seen glancing at what was likely an Adora sporting an expectant eyebrow, “Please? And thanks if you do-” she hissed as her face was mushed by a Glimmer now shoving Catra’s face out of the screen as the brunette had done earlier.

“See you soon Perfuma,” Glimmer ended the call with an animated shout.

It seemed like nobody in the call had noticed Perfuma’s slightly red eyes and wobbly movements. Oh well, they would become very aware of them later.

“Hey, Perfuma!” 

Scorpia had been the first to see her walk into the princess sleepover room, simultaneously the spare room at the end of the hall where the library was found, but details, details. It was the only one big enough to fit such a large group, really, and it was furnished with only the fluffiest of bean bags and was full of games and alcohol, though typically only a small number of them drank, and only after Frosta had gone to bed. 

“Hello, Scorpia! May I come and sit next to you? I brought chocolates and gummies!”

“Sure!”

With Scorpia’s enthusiastic response, the rest of the group figured that Scorpia was not aware of Perfuma’s state, that state being so, so high. Simply watching a giggling Perfuma stumble across the room to her girlfriend was enough to let everyone else know that. 

The princess in question had reached her peak about half an hour ago, though it felt like longer with how hungry she felt.

“Oh! I brought your catnip, Catra,” Perfuma haphazardly threw a small pouch in Catra’s general direction, missing by a mile and landing a hit to Seahawks’ forehead, who squawked in shock. It seemed like that action is what made Scorpia’s head click, immediately realizing just how uncoordinated Perfuma was. She was about to throw the snacks she had brought as well, but she missed her chance with Scorpia’s claw gently grabbing them and pulling them aside.

“‘Fuma, did you come here alone?”

“No! Of course not!”

The group sighed in relief.

“I had the woods and plants to keep me company!”

The previous sigh had been inhaled again, had Perfuma really stumbled across the Whispering Woods, high and alone, all the way to Brightmoon?

Yes. Yes, she had.

* * *

“She’s got the munchies,” Mermista drawled.

“Munch munch,” Perfuma giggled. 

She was storming through the snacks while everyone else played Monopoly. Mermista and Seahawk paired up, though she insisted that he was useless in this game, she always chose him. Glimmer and Bow teamed up, Glimmer’s competitiveness usually being what ended the game with Bow trying to get her to rationalize her choices. Frosta and Entrapta played together, the tech princess being surprisingly good and therefore Frosta’s go-to. Scorpia and Perfuma were together as well, most of the time apologizing for every small inconvenience, costing them the game. And lastly were Adora and Catra, Catra doing most of the thinking while Adora tried and failed to do her part, only serving to be called ‘dummy’ once in a while and getting a kiss for her efforts. Although that only lasted until Glimmer and Catra started getting serious.

Mermista had stashed the catnip for later, wanting to experience ‘full high-Catra’

Now, it was almost midnight and Frosta had already gone to sleep, but the alcohol wasn’t pulled out. Perfuma was still a little out of it, but the effects of her smoking were wearing off quickly, especially with all the junk food she was eating. Mostly everyone in the room was relaxed, conversations and reminiscing the main activity in the room, up until Mermista pulled out the pouch of catnip that had hit Seahawk, the smell automatically causing Catra’s pupils to dilate and push herself off of a discontented Adora who had just lost her cuddling partner. 

Mermista smirked and made a ‘pspsps’ noise, causing Catra to launch over in her direction. She snatched the catnip from the water-princesses’ hand and dumped it all over the floor, rolling around in it once she found the bag empty.

Everyone watched with wide eyes and ‘awwws’ as the normally calm and cool magicat rolled around the floor and purred, tail lashing and specks of green sticking onto her fur. 

Adora found it especially endearing, “You having fun, kitty?”

The princesses found themselves absolutely melting with the quiet ‘mrrp?’ that made its way out of Catra.

“We  _ have _ to record this,” Mermista, likely to want evidence for blackmail later on, called out to the rest of the group who didn’t have the heart to disagree.

Entrapta, surprisingly, was the one to prep the tracker pad and all the cameras in the room to record. When everyone turned to stare at her for it, she explained, “Catra said I was allowed to take any tests on her at any time if I wanted to as long as Adora approved! Since she hasn’t died in quite some time, I figure this is the next best thing! I haven’t been able to study the effects of catnip on any hybrid species before!”

Adora felt a rush of warmth inside her at hearing that Catra trusted her enough to let Entrapta handle her. The sensation was prolonged by the chittering Catra was making at the blonde, probably getting ready to throw herself at her.

Though none of the other princesses seemed to register the little pit patter of Catra’s feet getting ready to jump at a prey, or the tail lashing and rotating ears. Adora knew Catra’s wild side a bit better than everyone else. No matter how many times Catra went crazy some nights in the castle, chasing the moonlight in the middle of the dark, it would never compare to how Catra had let loose in her early years as kids. Especially the teething of her canines. 

Eventually, all the princesses turned to stare at Adora, who was currently being watched by a pair of cyan and gold eyes. Entrapta was the only one who seemed to predict what was going to happen, “Focused eyesight, predatory calming sounds, tensed legs-,” she mumbled and gasped right as Catra became a blur, one second in front of everyone and the next tumbling Adora off the bean bag they had been on together.

Everyone watched in concern at a giggling Adora who was wrestling her arm away from Catra, who was doing her best to gnaw on it like it was a damn stick.

“Uhhh, what is she doing,” Glimmer was the one to call out. It seemed like this type of response was not what anyone of them had expected, not even Scorpia.

“She’s eating you!” Bow recalled how it felt for his own arm to get chewed and scratched by the catgirl, not a pleasant experience.

“Don’t worry guys, she’s just like, teething, kind of.” Adora wasn’t really sure how to describe it.

“Hey, Catra! Want some chocolates instead? Maybe she’s hungry,” Perfuma, who had previously been hiding in a corner with all the food, waved a hand holding a box of chocolates in the air.

That got Catra’s attention, and Adora pouted as she once again lost her purring machine.

Humming, Catra made her way over to Perfuma and ripped into the box of dark chocolates. There were several choices, two layers filled with dozens of sweet treats. Within five minutes, they were all gone. Perfuma cheered her on as everyone else watched with mouths agape at the speed at which Catra ate. It was impressive. A bit gross. But impressive.

Scorpia was the one who chose to sacrifice herself and reached out to snag the chocolates away from the pair that seemed to be equally high. 

Adora had to drag Catra away from her “Munch Buddy”, Perfuma only serving to make it more difficult as she also wanted to keep Catra with her.

Catra’s pupils dilated to almost nothing, a sharp contrast from her eyes minutes before that had been nearly pitch black. She made herself jelly in Adora’s arms and slipped out of the hold. Hissing at everyone she leaped over the group, Adora’s fingertips brushing her legs before she was on all fours running around the room and bouncing off the walls. The rest of the princesses chased her around, only amusing the catgirl before she spotted a pillar that morphed into an arch. It was right smack in the center of the room, and it was a perfect perch to lounge on for an out of it Catra.

Her claws dug into the harsh material of the beam, the stone cracking as she made her own supports to scale the side of the room. Glimmer scoffed in annoyance as she realized it was a lost cause to tell Catra that she was going to be the one to file another report of a damaged pillar. 

Soon enough, Catra was swinging her legs off the side of the arch as she sat and watched a distressed group of princesses who were worried that she might fall off.

“Don’t cats always land on their feet?” Memista was the least worried of the group, other than Perfuma, considering she had never watched this idiot fall from anywhere.

Bow and Glimmer responded simultaneously, as did Scorpia, Entrapta, and Adora.

“We never got to test that theory,” and “Not this one,” could be heard from both groups.

“In fact, there is a 72 percent chance Catra will die instead of landing if she falls from that height!"

For the first time in years, the princesses realized just how high the ceilings of Brightmoon Castle were.

* * *

Almost an hour had passed. It was a little past midnight as the princesses spent their time calling for a bratty cat to come down. The first few minutes were spent ignoring them, Catra thoroughly enjoying her new relaxing spot, filled with the echoes of promises and bribery in the background. Then, she got bored of it and she started taunting them, lucid enough to mock getting down only to spend another fifteen minutes chittering at an owl outside. She eventually outgrew that as well, and without anything proper to chew, she settled for simply looking down at the princesses that had almost completely given up on getting her down. She was slightly more coherent now, really just doing it out of spite from when Glimmer said she would teleport and get her down. (She didn’t. She and the other princesses could all see just how long those damn claws were.)

It was then that she felt her limbs start to twitch. She felt like she was on the peak of the catnip rush, except worse. Suddenly, she couldn’t really tell what the hell she was doing, and she slumped over on the arch she had been sitting on and started to drool as she lost consciousness.

Entrapta, the one who had been recording every small movement that Catra made, yelled out her conclusion to the symptoms that Catra was exhibiting, “She’s having a seizure!”

“WHAT?!?” 

Everyone in the room looked up at the arch, watching as Catra kept spasming and slowly sliding off the narrow edge.

“Get her down, Glimmer,” Adora yelled, spurring everyone into action as Glimmer teleported up to the arch and quickly reappeared in the middle of the loose circle the group had formed. Only seconds after, Catra completely stopped moving. 

Entrapta pushed to the front of the group with her tools recently retrieved from the mini-lab she had stationed in Brightmoon. She felt for a pulse with her stethoscope and determined, “She’s dead!” She may have sounded a bit too excited, but to be fair, she now had tests to run and would be able to determine if Catra did in fact have six lives left.

“Wait, why?” Adora, again, seemed to be the only one concerned for her girlfriend's wellbeing. Though she was pretty sure she would come back to life. Probably. Maybe.

Distracted by her new data and the vitals being taken from Catra, Entrapta answered, “Well, It wasn’t the catnip! That should have had zero effects on her that would have caused a seizure. Perhaps it’s something she ate!”

Everyone could recall how Catra had stuffed her face with far too much chocolate.

“So it was the chocolate,” Bow came to an obvious conclusion.

“Yes! Usually it would have caused her a mild stomach ache at best, but it seems that she ate more than the desired amounts, causing her body to react this way,” she went back to her work, offhandedly listening for her name to be called.

Scorpia was the one who realized it first, “Perfuma! You gave Catra food poisoning!”

At the reveal, everyone turned to Perfuma, who was considerably less stoned but still not to her usual standards, “I did not,” she answered indignantly, “She decided to be my munch buddy! I only egged her on to eat more chocolate after we made a bet!”

Now this, this was news. It seemed like there had been more going on in the munchies corner than the princesses had initially thought. 

“Who won the bet?” 

“Not the time Seahawk,” Mermista was not accountable for her man not reading the room.

“I mean I dunno I kind of want to know,” of course, Adora would match his energy.

“I did, obviously,” Catra answered.

“CATRA!”

Cheers of relief filled the room as Catra wiped the drool from her mouth and sat up, feeling a bit fuzzy and nauseous but not disoriented enough to keep from standing.

“And you,” she yelled, pointing a claw at Perfuma, “I’m never going to be your munch buddy ever again!”

The declaration nearly brought Perfuma to tears, “No! Please,” she begged, collapsing into Scorpia’s waiting arms, “You won the bet! I’ll get you more catnip! I’ll ban chocolate in Plumeria,” the princesses gasped, “But please! You’re such a cool munch buddy!”

“No,” Catra refused from inside Adora’s hold. The princess watched the interaction, engrossed in the drama of it all.

“There seem to be feelings getting hurt,” Entrapta mumbled into her recorder before pointing it back out in the direction of Catra and Perfuma.

The group’s curiosity peaked as Perfuma changed tactics, “I will hunt you down to the end of your days! I don’t care if you won’t do it willingly you  _ will  _ have munchies with me again!”

Catra and Perfuma glared at each other, the silence agonizing as the princesses waited for the bubble of tension to burst. Moments passed until the pair busted to giggles in their girlfriends’ arms, laughing so much they started to wheeze and melt to the ground, dragging Adora and Scorpia with them.

Glimmer, deeply unsatisfied with the ending of the show, cut them off, “Alright, alright. It’s time for bed now, we all have to go back to doing stuff tomorrow.”

Everyone awwed as they reluctantly settled in and got ready for bed. As fun as the sleepovers were, it was always disappointing to be reminded that they had to go back to the work of a princess the next day. The upside to this time was that nobody would have a hangover. Well, except maybe Perfuma, and Entrapta said Catra would likely vomit within the next 24 hours, but it was whatever.

* * *

“Ugh, I feel like crap,” Catra leaned over the edge of the toilet bowl as she emptied out all the chocolate remnants of last night.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Adora was there, helping her hold up her hair and rubbing light circles on her back.

“I hope Petals gets a headache or something. I  _ will _ avenge my stom-” Catra didn’t get to finish as she lurched again. Stupid chocolate. She was swearing off of it for at least the next year. She had eaten enough of it in one sitting to last more than that.

“Want to try the toothpaste again?”

She nodded, she felt empty enough that it was likely she wouldn’t puke again. Adora handed her the toothbrush stacked with a copious amount of minty toothpaste, and as she shoved it into her mouth she was relieved to find that the urge to gag and vomit was gone. She sighed and with wobbly knees stood up to rinse her mouth properly in the sink, Adora’s hands gently helping her the entire way. She was grateful for the doofus, always there for her without really coddling too much. It had taken them some time to get to that point, a lot of communication, but they were at a point now where reading each other seemed to be easier than it had even when they were in the Horde. 

As the couple finally emerged from their room, they were met with the gazes of five concerned princesses and Bow and Seahawk. 

“So, like, are you good, or whatever,” Mermista was the one to ask.

Catra nodded before narrowing her eyes at the bottle of water held in Perfuma’s hand, “Dry mouth much,” she snickered.

Perfuma sighed and silently nodded her head. 

Catra hummed, “Kay I’m going back to bed now.”

She swiftly turned, yanking Adora’s arm with her, and shut the door in everyone’s faces.

Glimmer seemed to be the most annoyed, “Did she just-”

“Yup,”

“And she-”

“Yup,”

She groaned with every one of Scorpia’s curt responses, “I can’t believe her!”

“I can,” Mermista smirked, “Oh, I’m also heading back to Salineas, have fun with her,” she similarly yanked Seahawk along with her out of the castle to the docks.

Perfuma, sensing it was also time for her to make her exit, spoke up with Scorpia, “I also believe it is time for us to retreat back to our respective kingdoms,” she chuckled nervously, “I’ll see you next weekend!” She much more gently but also hurriedly pulled Scorpia out of Brightmoon with her, the scorpioni waving her claw goodbye with a cheerful smile.

Entrapta came last, yelling out a quick, “It is probably best to let Catra rest! Oh that rhymed,” before scuttling away on the tendrils of her hair, back to Dryl for the month.

Before Bow could even finish his statement of, “Am I the only one that doesn’t get to escape?” Glimmer groaned and teleported away to her office, filing the damage reports to the pillar in the spare room herself, muttering ‘Stupid Horde Scum’ the entire time.

* * *

**Present:**

Everyone chuckled at the memory, still fresh and ever-present as they kept rewatching the footage much to Catra’s dismay. 

“Wow, Furball, nearly three years after the defeat of Horde Prime and you’re already going soft,”

“Oh, I’ll show you soft, Fishy.”

Accustomed to Mermista and Catra’s banter, clutched her girlfriend closer to her and prevented a launch attack. At this point, Mermista owed her for how many times she stopped Catra from toppling her over, even if it was meant to be playful.

Suddenly, Seahawk stood up, posing on the coffee table and lifting his arm to indicate a start of a shanty, “OOOOHHHHH,”

Everyone groaned, and Catra called out, “Get your man, Mermista.”

“I’M TRYING,” she responded as she tugged on his boots to no avail.

With all the commotion in the room, Catra leaned over to Perfuma while everyone else was distracted by their misery, “I do want some more catnip by the way.”

Perfuma gasped and clapped her hands in glee, “Munch Buddies!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this as I went and I have no idea what it turned into. My search history is infested and I know more about weed, smoking, catnip, and seizures than I ever thought I would. I may have accidentally googled “How to smoke weed” and several other weed things on my school account, so there’s that.
> 
> This might be the last really silly chapter, I’ve been thinking of going a bit out of my default-comfort zone and writing some mild angst.
> 
> Anyways, thank you guys for the support, I never thought I would have a story to actually update, but here I am! I have a handful of the next chapters planned out, but I might still need more Catra-killing ideas, I’ll let you know though. This is probably going to be updated at the same time next week, and I can’t wait!


	4. Space Lakes Are Not Cool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THEY JUST GOT TO SPACE BOW ALREADY NEEDS A BREAK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, I tested out a bit of my angst skills on this one, so it might be absolute SHIT, *sad sniffle* but I think it did me some good to get out of my comfort zone. You all gave me so many amazing prompts for Catra’s deaths, and I’m really trying to get as many of them as possible done within the limit of Catra’s lives, because as the title says, Catra is in fact, not immortal, she simply has an extended amount of lives. BUT I have done my best and now I actually sort of have a little more plot for this story, so, good job people. I don’t really need any more ideas, as everything else is planned out, but if you have something, just comment it and I might be able to smush it in somewhere! 
> 
> Edit: I'm so sorry I totally forgot to credit LynxWilde for the idea on this chapter with the drowning and underground lakes, and... yeah that's it but THANK YOU I was just such in a rush to post as I don't get much time. : P
> 
> We really do have to give Bow a break after this chapter though...
> 
> I don’t own any of the characters or anything, and I have no beta if you couldn’t already tell :D

It was the three-year anniversary of the end of the war and Horde Prime’s defeat, and the Best Friend Squad was on their way to space again. Entrapta had finally perfected Darla, and they had a route set to be followed. An actual plan that Catra could agree with for once. Glimmer was set to leave as well, Micah having settled into the role of interim Ruler of Brightmoon and Catra had finally become the Official Princess Alliance Guard and the Official Royal Advisor. It was because of that reason that it was crucial that Entrapta’s light speed modifications to Darla’s ship were so important. If the group needed to suddenly return to Etheria, they could do it within the day, and Catra could help wherever she was needed. 

“Alright, first stop, Eevne, the Star Siblings’ planet, catalog it please, and after that, we head over to planet XJ-23,” Adora called out from the command center where she was uploading her map to Darla’s system and making it digital. 

Everyone had said their goodbyes, the other alliance members getting slightly teary after their departure and Mermista trying to hide it by asking them to bring her something from space, and though Entrapta asked the same thing she was definitely not doing it to hide her slight sadness at seeing her friends leave.

Initially, Catra had been nervous, and everyone had known from Melog’s purple-ish mane and Catra’s own fluffy tail. Though in her defense, going back to the place where Horde Prime had held her hostage and used her body like a puppet was not her favorite, but she remembered that it was also where she met Melog, and where she could see the stars shimmering in all their glory, stars that Adora had brought them even under bad circumstances. She chose to focus on the good parts of it, rather than the bad, Perfuma’s advice. Now, she was sitting in the pilot’s chair waiting for Adora to return and hold her to gaze at the stars while Bow and Glimmer settled in.

“Hey, Adora? Do you think the Star Siblings are gonna like me? I mean, you  _ did  _ say I was complicated,” Catra feigned hurt as she pouted.

“Seems pretty accurate to me,” Glimmer popped out of the hallway followed by Bow, who was trying to hold back from mildly agreeing.

Adora snorted at Catra’s affronted expression, “Well at least I don’t  _ kill  _ people with pranks and then  _ sob _ when they actually do die, Sparkles.”

Glimmer had no comment for the snarky reply, and moved onto pretending to be interested in whatever Adora was doing, “So, what’s planet XJ-23? Why did we choose that planet first?”

Adora, unperturbed from what was supposed to be Glimmer’s false attentiveness, dove into a fascinated rant about the planet, “Well, it’s actually one of the more slightly underdeveloped planets in the universe! It doesn’t really have sentient beings on it, based on Entrapta’s estimations, and it’s a bit similar to Etheria. Plus, it’s on the closer side of the universe and I figured we could start on an easy planet! Ya know, test the waters before diving in,” she gave an enthusiastic smile at the rest of the group, waiting for their response.

“So… a practice run,” Catra confirmed.

“Yup! The only problem we might have is a surprise, really, since we don’t know much more about it, and also a bunch of other potentially bad things that could happen…” Adora ended with a slight grimace this time.

“Great! So basically like everything else we’ve done,” Glimmer seemed decently excited at that point.

“I guess you got the brain cell on this one Adora, I’ll give you that,” Catra smiled at her while the rest of the group chuckled at Adora’s own goofy smile rising at the underhanded praise.

* * *

“This is Catra?! You made her seem so.. not this,” Jewelstar, the eldest of the three siblings commented.

“Yeah, she’s awesome!” Starla, the youngest, had especially been interested in Adora’s old ‘friend’.

Even their pet owl, Glory, had taken a liking to Melog, who was playfully chasing the bird around while Catra was basking in the attention as they strolled around a deserted area of the siblings’ home planet.

They had taken well to Catra, and now that they met, they bashed on Adora together, leaving her to splutter while Bow and Glimmer giggled. Traitors.

“Well when I told you about her things were-”

“Complicated?” all three Star Siblings said simultaneously, making Catra cackle as Adora simply shut her mouth and looked away.

“Stars, you three are way too cool for Adora to have handled. But, as much as I’d love to hang out with you guys another time, we do have to keep on schedule,” Catra had actually been sincere with her comment, making friends with the siblings had been easy and she felt they would get along well. However, the mission came first, and they needed to stay on track much to her dismay.

Tallstar, the brother of the three, took the lead as he chuckled, “Actually, we’re already at the standpoint, all we have to do is let ‘complicated’ here do her thing and you guys can teach us how to spread the magic ourselves.”

They stood in a barren, desert-like section of Eevne, where the Star Siblings had taken charge and had an alert ready to let anyone in the universe know that planets were gaining back their magic, they were becoming habitable again, all they needed was a kickstart from She-ra and anyone else who could wield even a minimal amount of magic, simply their presence was enough. Entrapta had said a minimum of five planets, and the dream could finally become a reality. The Star Siblings were meant to be the messengers of the delivery of hope amongst this universe.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” Adora summoned her sword, as easily as the first time she had kissed Catra, the feeling of warmth filling her inside a sharp contrast to the chaotic energy of the First-Ones’ She-ra. She walked over to the point that Tallstar had directed her to, and she muttered a quiet, ‘For the honor of Grayskull,” She-ra’s bright transformation stunning the star siblings as Catra looked at her with glazed eyes, unknowingly staring while Bow and Glimmer snickered behind her. The sound snapped Catra out of her daze, and she growled and blushed as She-ra stood in front of her.

“Woah, I guess you weren’t lying when you said you were stronger before…” Jewelstar murmured while she looked in awe at the beacon of energy in front of her.

“Well, she did say she was complicated,” even Tallstar was astonished while Starla herself was left speechless.

Adora sheepishly chuckled at the outright amazement before reminding herself to focus and taking a deep breath, tightening her grip on her sword. She closed her eyes and plunged the sharp weapon deep into the ground, causing cracks to run all the way to the group’s feet as orange plantlife spread around them while Adora concentrated all of her energy into renewing the magic of Eevne. When she finally opened her eyes again, purple and orange forest surrounded her, the trees a distinct difference from Etheria’s large trunked ones being that these seemed extremely thin, almost plank-like while also holding up a large amount of foliage. It made no sense to Adora, but as she watched the happiness burst into the Star-Siblings’ faces as they cheered, she figured it had been a successful magic renewal. The entire group smiled as Starla began to cheer and whoop while her two siblings walked up to Catra, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, tears in their faces. The Star Siblings thanked them all thoroughly even as Glimmer taught them how to send intergalactic messages for when their ship made it to another planet in three months when four other planets had their magic. 

Goodbyes were said, and even as the best friend squad launched off of the planet, the shouts of joy reached their ears, and a feeling of accomplishment washed over them. This trip was going amazingly well, and the satisfaction of it was great for the team’s morale.

* * *

Already, they were nearing planet XJ-23, or better known as Zowet, as the Star-Siblings had told them through their new tracker-pad, not so much a tracker as a means of communication. 

Zowet didn’t have a civilization prior to Prime’s rule, so it had been essentially useless to him aside from the resources it provided. The team found that there were underground lakes of dimethyl sulfoxide, which, Prime definitely could have produced himself, but the rarity of this one was that it naturally replicated the genetics of an embryo if used in the formula for cryoprotectant, which is exactly what Prime had needed in his early stages of rule to build his clone army and his new ‘vessels. The clone embryos he produced became more constant, the DNA strands being  _ exactly _ the same, and his own vessels were exact copies of himself as well, creating the image of a god exactly the way he had intended. Prime took almost all of it, using it for his clones before perfecting the formula himself and using it to both create new clones and preserve his old ones. It was the missing key to Hordak’s own failed clone attempts.

There was, however, a small problem. Throughout the two weeks that they had drifted through space towards Zowet, allowing She-ra time to rest while preserving their light speed jumps, they had maintained contact with their friends on Etheria. Even so far out into the galaxy, Hordak had given Entrapta tips on how to keep the signal going so far, and it paid off. Entrapta had warned them that in order for She-ra’s magic to be multiplied and spread throughout any planet, they had to be in a focal point of it. If not, the magic would not spread throughout the entirety of it, only causing more tiredness and resting time needed for Adora, and the magic itself might not even last. So for Zowet, they had to go underground into the planet, where Entrapta had given them coordinates for a designated place in which She-ra could spread her magic. 

* * *

An hour of searching, Glimmer and Bow together, Melog and Catra running around, and Adora covering distance as She-ra already. 

An hour until Bow had contacted the others through his tracker pad and told them he had found an opening near the coordinates. 

An hour for Catra to truly prepare to face something that Prime had so dearly wanted and used. An hour for her to shove down her emotions and put on a brave face while keeping her tail unfluffed and Melog’s mane a normal blue shade. 

An hour, and she was now staring down a dimly illuminated cave. 

She pushed through the rest of them, not allowing herself to even look at Melog, fearing their mane might be a slight purple already. “Let’s go,” she muttered, forcing herself to take one step in front of the other while looking down and letting everyone pass in front of her. She kept her gaze on the floor and let Bow lead the way as she tried to escape the images of electric-green pools and the feeling of being pushed by clawed hands. 

It worked.

There wasn’t enough correlation between the dimethyl sulfoxide in the cave and the one Horde Prime had used for her mind to really make the connection. It was almost as if it was a completely different thing as long as she was able to keep her mind off of it. She did so by looking at Adora, who was still in She-ra form and oblivious to Catra’s staring.

“We’re almost there, we just gotta get through this ledge, but we need to be careful,” Bow stared at her pointedly as he said it,  _ we need you to be 100% present _ , it said.

She cracked a smile, subtle, but it got the message through. It was very Bow of him. She nodded and they all turned to move forward, Melog trailing last.

They slowly shuffled alongside the rough wall of the cave, making sure to watch their step as the ledge was cracked in certain spots. Small rocks tumbled down as they occasionally came across a weak spot. It was enough of a distraction that Catra could mostly keep her mind off of the clear liquid. Finally, they managed to make it all the way across and Bow’s tracker pad beeped loudly as they were marked to be in the coordinates for She-ra to renew Zowet’s magic.

She got into position much like in Eevne, stabbing the ground with her sword and summoning the magic within her to go to the planet, but this time, she seemed to struggle more. This planet, it had gone far longer without magic, not like in Eevne, which- although it had been decades of magic gone- was nothing compared to the centuries of dullness that possessed this place. It needed more, it  _ asked  _ for more, and Adora felt it as the land took and took until she felt as tired and worn out as the planet had previously looked. The group paid no mind to the renewed pools and now white and smooth rock of the cave. Their attention was all on Adora, who had collapsed during the magical transfer, and was shrunk out of her She-ra form as soon as the process was over. Bow, Melog, and Glimmer, who had been holding Catra back from running to Adora when she collapsed, finally let go of the concerned magicat who rushed to hold Adora’s slumped figure, “No no no no no, Adora? No- come on, wake up,” she cradled the blonde’s head, hoping that the idiot would open her eyes, “We need to get her to the ship, we- we have medicine and stuff there, right?”

Bow and Glimmer nodded, both kneeling next to their friends and getting up to carry Adora together. The couple was worried about Adora, but Catra? She was nearly hysterical even though they had already taken Adora’s pulse and it was likely that she had just passed out and was simply exhausted. Either way, they hefted Adora onto Melog’s morphing orange mane. Catra didn’t even notice as she turned around and glanced at the cave before them for the first time since the magic was restored. 

A bright green. 

Catra chuckled bitterly.

Entrapta said dimethyl sulfoxide was clear. 

This one was green now. 

Of course, it was. 

She shook her head in anger while Bow and Glimmer looked at her worriedly. They were obviously thinking the same thing, but she didn’t need their pity. She had honestly thought that this mission wasn’t going to cause any trouble at the start, but the universe just loved to fool her, didn’t it?

She was already nervous because of the acid greed pools surrounding her, and now Adora was passed out. It was all going wrong, and she couldn’t get a terrible gut feeling out of her. A knot twisted in her stomach as her anticipated thoughts reflected the sight in front of her. She had heard it before she even saw it. The squeak of a space suit-boot echoing throughout the cave had her watch Bow slip on a puddle of green as they walked the ledge they had come from. Dammit. The oozes of green on the white walls hadn’t been there before, and even though it was a sturdier surface now, it was smoother, and the leaking green liquid made it slippery. In a flash, Bow was falling and pulling Glimmer with him as she reached over to help pull him closer. The archer yelped as he fell into a large, cold lake of dimethyl sulfoxide with a splash, but Glimmer, Glimmer hit her head on a rock protruding from the surface of the liquid, knocking her out almost immediately. Catra stood frozen for a millisecond, not knowing what to do. Melog had rushed out of the ledge space with Adora on his back, but while he got Adora to safety Catra was left to decide what the hell to do. 

Bow was in the same spot he had splashed into, seemingly freezing as his teeth chattered and he slowly tried to swim over to a sinking Glimmer. He wasn’t going to be fast enough. Melog would have to leave Adora and come back, so he wouldn't be fast enough. But Catra? Catra could dive into the liquid and pull Glimmer up before she even got her head under, as she had been propped up on the rock just enough for her sinking to be slowed. 

But she hated the water.

Sure, dimethyl sulfoxide wasn’t water, it was a liquid, but it was basically water.

She didn’t know how deep the damn lake was but based on Bow’s struggle to stay afloat, it was deep.

It was green.

She was the Official Princess Alliance Guard.

She had no fucking idea how to swim.

She jumped.

* * *

She held her breath and closed her eyes for the imminent impact of her body against the water head-first, but being chipped and being in the water, in general, was honestly the last thing on her mind, the thought replaced by an urgent 'Save Glimmer' while she did her best to paddle over to the rock Glimmer had hit her head on, now covered in blood as the princess herself sank little by little. Sheer luck allowed Catra to reach Glimmer just as she was about to go under, Bow's sigh of relief heard a couple of feet away from her where he was starting to improve on his swimming now that his limbs were warmer from the strain of treading. 

"Here, get her to the edge," Catra handed Glimmer to Bow, teeth chattering, knowing her lack of knowledge in swimming would prevent her from being able to reach land while carrying Glimmer or reach land at all. Catra held on tightly to the rock she had found Glimmer on, but the shock of watching her friends fall into a lake had passed, now it was just her, surrounded by almost the exact thing that Prime had used to 'purify' her. It was so, so cold and all she could feel was the way it felt so wrong on her fur.

Her face was reflected into the shimmery surface of the acidic green, only it wasn't her face, not exactly. It was her, with her hair cut off haphazardly, her mask still on miraculously, and she could make out other reflections of clones behind her. She panicked as she realized she was still with Horde Prime. Three years of constant nightmares, of good days and bad days and panic attacks, yet the memory had never been as clear as now. The incantation of 'All beings must suffer to become pure' filled her ears. She could feel the clawed hands digging into her shoulders as she struggled to resist, she could feel the burn of the electrified pool as she sunk deeper, arms flailing. The smell of chemicals only got stronger and she could see hundreds of clones in front of her.

She let go of the rock and started to thrash in the lake, "No, stop!" She begged this time. She didn't want this, she didn't want to give in as easily as she had last time. And it hadn't been all that easy last time anyway. Was Prime still messing with her head? Has it all been an illusion? 

The pressure on her shoulders grew. Her body was tired of fighting back, it was getting harder to keep her head over the surface as the clones pushed more. She needed to get out, she tried so hard, but she couldn't swim and she cried for help though she knew it wouldn't come. Adora couldn't come, she had to stay safe. It was the last thought in her mind as she caught a glance of Horde Prime's smirk and finally went under.

* * *

Bow had been so preoccupied with inspecting Glimmer’s head that he hadn’t even noticed Catra’s initial panic. He thought she seemed fine when she had jumped in to help Glimmer, so why should she be having problems now? He realized he couldn’t have been any more wrong as he saw Catra’s unfocused eyes darting around while she started to scream and flail around in the spot he had left her. He watched her let go of the rock and start to drown, her skin going slightly blue from what he could tell, and immediately he knew he was going to have to leave Glimmer for a bit. As Catra’s cries became more and more muffled from the liquid, Bow took off his spacesuit, leaving him in only his underclothes and he jumped into the lake. Catra had already started sinking, but the shore had been a good distance from where she was, and he was still a couple of yards away when he watched the bubbles popping up on the surface die out. He wasn’t the best swimmer, but Bow reached the spot eventually and he held his breath, diving under to search for Catra who continued to sink. How deep was this lake?

It took him four tries, each one only getting harder until his fingertips finally touched a furry arm, and he yanked on it, kicking his legs harder and harder, desperate to reach the surface as he felt that his lungs were about to pop out of his chest. 

His vision was getting fuzzy, both from the irritation of the dimethyl sulfoxide and from the lack of oxygen until he broke the surface of the lake. He pulled Catra up with him, taking heaving breaths and anchoring them both on a rock. He checked Catra’s pulse, “Oh no,” he couldn’t find one, and he wasn’t on a large enough surface to do CPR. Dejectedly, he wrapped an arm around Catra and swam them to the shore. 

He tried. He tried for almost half an hour before he decided his arms hurt too much and all he was doing was breaking Catra’s ribs. He left her there, not knowing what else to do as the entire team was out of commission, other than Melog of course, who had already brought Adora down and proceeded to sadly paw at a side-turned Catra. 

Bow sighed, pulling out a first-aid kit from his spacesuit and got to work on stitching up Glimmer, who still showed no signs of consciousness. 

This trip was going horribly. 

* * *

Catra was the first to wake up, surprisingly, eyes tightening up before proceeding to cough and vomit all the dimethyl sulfoxide in her lungs. Bow was on the third stitch on Glimmer’s head, and though he thought it couldn’t have been too long, Adora started to stir too. She asked a slurred, “What ‘appen’d,” just as Bow finished up the last stitch on Glimmer’s head. 

“I happened,” he sighed. If he had been more careful on the ledge, they wouldn’t be here right now.

“Nope, you don’t get to do that Arrow Boy,” Catra argued from her sitting position next to Adora, her chest still aching slightly and coughs wracking her body every so often. She was not going to allow Bow to blame himself when he never let them do the same.

He sighed. Catra was right, it would do no one any good if he sulked while they were still alone in the cave. He’d sulk later.

As if halting that train of thought, Glimmer started to move in his arms, gaining consciousness with a string of curses that had the corners of Catra’s mouth tilting slightly upwards. Glimmer finally opened her eyes and drifted her gaze across the room before she winced, bringing a hand up to her head, “So it wasn’t just a bad dream.”

That seemed to bring back the haunted look in Catra’s eyes, “No, it wasn’t.”

Adora seemed to be the most confused, righteously so as she had been unconscious for everything, from Bow falling in the lake and Catra dying, which he was definitely going to talk about with Catra later if she didn’t at least tell Adora.

He gently helped Glimmer up, as she still seemed to be a bit dizzy and was scrunching her eyes up in pain from a headache, “Alright, well, I think it’s time we get out of this cave.”

Catra seemed glad for the distraction, and she muttered a ‘good riddance’, hoisting herself up with help from Adora and Melog, though Adora still seemed to be struggling to stay awake.

Slowly, they took a safer path to the mouth of the cave, and they all sighed in relief when the light from outside shone in, a preferable sight to the still ominous green underground lakes casting dark shadows inside the cursed tunnel.

* * *

“Can I pleaseeee take a nap, Bow,” Glimmer was in the hallway, the echoes of her pleading heard all the way to Adore and Catra’s room, though Adora was still in the showers.

“No, Glim, I’m sorry but you have to stay awake for a few hours still. Then you can sleep all you want, okay?”

“Fine,” it seemed like there were occasions in which Bow could get Glimmer to listen, at least for a bit. It was progress.

Catra heard Bow’s footsteps approaching her in the entrance of the room, and she turned to face a concerned archer, though it was not an unusual sight nowadays, “Hey, what happened back there, I’m here for you, we all are. I know it must’ve been… intense, seeing all that again.”

Catra averted her gaze, he wasn’t wrong, but, “I’ll talk to Adora about it, and... Thank you, for getting me out.”

“Thank  _ you _ , Catra. I know how hard it is for you to get near bodies of water like that, and you still did it to save Glimmer. We all owe you.”

She blushed, “Well- I mean- It’s my  _ job _ ,” she rarely ever spluttered, but she was still ruffled from her flashbacks. It seemed her mind was still a bit elsewhere.

“I get it, but still, if you really don’t want me to tell Glimmer what you did, I won’t.”

Catra narrowed her eyes at Bow’s leaning form and hummed, “Well, if you promise not to blame yourself for anything that happened today, I’ll let you tell her after she takes her nap.”

“Deal,” he agreed a bit reluctantly, but he guessed it was hypocritical of him to blame himself for everything when he didn’t the rest of the group do the same.

She smiled and waved him off, “Go make sure Sparkles isn’t asleep.” 

He scrambled away, and Catra’s smile fell. She couldn’t get the sensation of being chipped out of her mind. Even when she had lasted extra time in the showers to make sure the dimethyl sulfoxide wouldn’t irritate her skin, she panicked the entire time, the water still scaring her, but it still felt like she couldn’t scrub any of it away. Her clothes felt too tight, and the room was too bright. Her hands trembled slightly, the memory of being with Prime was fresher than ever now, and though her chest still hurt from drowning, her breathing picked up. She was never going to escape him, was she?

Adora chose to enter the room at that moment, and she watched Catra seem to lose her grip on the present. 

Her hair was still dripping wet and making her pajamas feel hot, but she decided to forgo drying it and instead went to kneel in front of Catra, who was sitting on the edge of the bed and staring into space. A low, “No, no please,” could be heard, Catra’s muttering low enough that Adora barely recognized it.

“Catra? Hey, come on, you’re here, with me, in our room. We’re in Darla,” she avoided the words ‘ship’, ‘space’, and ‘Adora’ in general, knowing from the past that it could simply drag Catra further into her mind. 

“A- Adora?” Catra’s short breaths continued and the pain in her chest couldn’t bring her back.

Adora herself hesitated, this had gone wrong before, “Yeah, yeah it’s me, your girlfriend. Remember?”

Catra reacted just as Adora had thought she would. Suddenly her body shot into action, pushing Adora away and curling into herself in the bed, “No, no, you can’t be here. Prime- he’s- he’s going to hurt you! I-”

“We’re safe, Catra. He’s not here, he’s not going to hurt us anymore, I promise,” Adora now had tears in her eyes. It hurt, seeing Catra suffer like she had, thinking something was wrong while they were in the comfort of their own room. Her hand moved slowly to reach for Catra’s fingertips. It was one of the only places the clones hadn’t touched her at all, the restraints on her wrists sufficing to keep her claws out of the way when they shoved her around. She still flinched, she always did, but Catra allowed Adora to rub her trembling hands, What do you hear?” 

It was what Catra always preferred to start with, her long feline ears allowing her to identify any sounds better, “You, and D-Darla,” sobs still wracked Catra’s body, but she pushed through, wanting to get the image of Prime out of her, she wanted it to be over.

“Okay, what do you smell?”

“That n-new shampoo you got,” Catra’s breathing got a bit easier, and the pain in her chest became more present in her mind.

“Anything you feel?”

“The sheets, and your hand. ‘S soft.” 

Adora cracked a smile at that, “Taste?”

“Toothpaste.”

“Now, what do you see?”

Catra took a large breath and untucked her head from in between her knees, “You, with your hair down,” she smiled at the sight even though it was blurry from her tears.

Adora smiled a little, “Can I hold you?”

Catra nodded quietly, she felt her breathing regulate but her entire chest still ached. Both she and Adora were so tired, but she had told Bow that she would let Adora know what happened, and she figured now was as good a time as ever, “I…” she hesitated a bit. She didn’t know where to start, “I died. In the cave.”

She glanced at a now even more concerned Adora, but she knew the blonde would let her finish before commenting, it was how they always worked, “Bow and Glimmer fell from that ledge we used to get to the coordinates, but on our way back the cave was regenerated. The lakes turned green and it was all over the place. He slipped, and Glimmer went down with him. It wouldn’t have been too much of a problem, but- the lake- it was so  _ cold _ and swimming was hard and Glimmer got knocked out and I was the only one who could help her,” she started to ramble, “so I jumped in even though I know I can’t fucking swim and I stopped her from sinking in just in time but I told Bow to take her away when he got there and then he- he was  _ right there _ and the clones were pushing me under but I- I didn’t want to Adora- I promise I- I didn’t want to,” Catra had a desperate look in her eyes. She pleaded with Adora to believe her, to believe that Catra had tried her best, but-

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. I believe you, I know how much you hated that,” Adora did her best to reassure Catra. The magicat often panicked when asking her to believe that she had done her best to escape, for fear of being reprimanded for not managing to do it. Prime had always mocked her for it when she was connected to the hivemind, taunted her with illusions of freedom and escape and getting all she wanted only to go through the chipping process all over again. It always ignited Adora’s anger at Prime, even years later, but more so it made her heart ache. 

Catra herself sniffled a bit and nodded, remembering that she had drifted off on the story, “Anyway, I uh, I couldn’t swim and I drowned even though Bow got me out. I died and I woke up a little before you and Sparkles,” she finished it all with a sigh, it was going to setback her progress with Perfuma, both she and Adora knew it.

Adora hummed and nodded, taking it all in, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you guys, maybe if I-”

“No, Adora,” Catra interrupted, “we don’t need anyone blaming themselves for this. I already told Arrow Boy, now I’m telling you. You don’t get to blame yourself. You passed out because you were  _ exhausted _ , and you can’t control that. We all just need to be a little more careful next time.”

Adora accepted it, “Okay, I really am tired though.”

“Yeah, we can sleep all we want for the next two weeks, and after that, we’ll make Bow a cake or something.”

Adora nodded, already slumping into the bed, “Love you,” she cradled Catra in her arms as her eyes closed.

“Love you too, Adora,” Catra pressed her head closer to the nook in Adora’s shoulder and they fell asleep, tangled together in the comfort of each other’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If youuuu think that this was absolutely terrible and that I should never write angst again or should at least practice more before doing it again, let me know. Plz.
> 
> If you don't want to read a giant note just skip to the end, it's fine I know I ramble in these a bit.
> 
> Anyway, LESSON TIME: What is dimethyl sulfoxide? I’m glad you asked because my search history definitely knows (alongside the knowledge of how people drown and concussions :) My school account be suspicious). It can be used as a dietary supplement, BUT it is also part of the formula for a cryoprotectant for cryopreservation, alongside with glycerol, it is used to prevent freezing damages in tissues and cells and when things like embryos, sperm, cartilage, and a bunch of other things when put into something like a liquid nitrogen preservations thing. It also conducts electricity. Now, do you care? Probably not. BUT I DID RESEARCH OKAY. 
> 
> I know Catra dying wasn’t the main focus of this chapter, but the buildup to it was… decent. Right? I’m kind of setting up things for the like, second-ish arc of this story that has a little more plot to it after chapter 5, and as I mentioned before, it’s all set up, but I can probs shove some more prompts in there if needed. If you maybe actually did like this attempt at semi-angsty writing, it’s only going to get angstier from here. So… there’s that. 
> 
> Lastly, it's my birthday today, and I just found out it's on International Women's Day. You woulda thought I'd have known that, but no, I just wandered around in life without that knowledge. Just leaving a comment or a kudos or something would honestly make my day, even if it's a late birthday present. If not, that's totally cool too, but I figure if you're reading this you must have enjoyed at least the past three chapters, right? That's awesome already!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it, and constructive criticism is very much appreciated. : D


	5. Bio-Weapons and Tired Blondes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FEELZ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s a bit more choppy, and I included a little more fun stuff at the end because why choose between serious and funny when you can have both? Probably not my best work and again the focus isn’t really on Catra’s death but I kind of like it anyway. I promise these chapters will get better. I'm just kind of getting to the good stuff. Promise.
> 
> The Artikans (I come up with all these names by keyboard smash don’t judge me) don’t have gender, so they’re all ‘they’ and differentiated by features or name :) That’s like the only thing I own I don’t own anything else and I have no Beta.
> 
> Credit goes to LynxWilde for the basis of this idea : D

They were on their last planet. The entire trip had taken them about 2 months, with the resting times between planets being just enough for She-ra to recover thoroughly each time. Even with their initial mission to Zowet going horribly wrong, it seemed like all the bad luck had simply piled up at the start, and things were now running smoothly. The Star-Siblings were on standby now, part of the princess alliance and ready to technically become space diplomats. 

"We're about to enter Artik's atmosphere, so buckle in guys!”

The Best Friend Squad sat in the command center, each in their individual chairs after Entrapta’s additions to the ship. Adora was inputting the final landing coordinates and eagerly sitting in the pilot’s chair. Artik had a decent-sized population and based on some extended research from the Star-Siblings, the Artikans were quite peaceful. They had already been notified of the Etherians’ arrival and had a welcome group ready to escort them to the planet’s magic absorption site.

The ship rumbled slightly as they pushed through the planet’s atmosphere, and it was a smooth landing the rest of the way. They ended up in a large field of what seemed to be matted down grass, and as they exited the ship their helmets came off as well, Melog trotting alongside them. Their readings had said that the air here was breathable, and though they could never be sure, everything seemed fine when they took a small breath. Walking down the hatch of the ship, they were met with five blue-skinned and pointy-eared Artikans. The team tapped into their translators built into the suit and introduced themselves.

“Hello! We came from Etheria, and are here to restore the magic on this planet. We assume you made contact with the Star-Siblings,” Glimmer assumed the role of leader as usual. Having been the Queen of Brightmoon, diplomatic and formal necessities came easily to her.

The tallest Artikan spoke, and though it should have sounded like gibberish to the group, the translators interpreted every word perfectly, “Yes! The Star-Siblings said we had to lead you somewhere in order to restore the magic here. However, we are not sure exactly where this is located.”

Having been at a distance, Bow moved forward in an unthreatening manner, extending his arm to show his tracker pad with a beeping red dot on it. The Artikans took a glance at the screen, and their eyes lit up in recognition.

“Do you know where this is,” Bow asked hopefully.

“Yes! We can lead you there quite easily,” the Artikan responded eagerly.

Catra inspected the Artikans from the back of the group as they waved the team over to start walking. The previous planets they had visited had been underdeveloped, but Artik was highly evolved compared to them. They wore skin-tight suits, suitable for… combat? Catra furrowed her brows in confusion, wasn’t Artik civilization supposed to be peaceful and harmonious? Melog seemed to be thinking the same thing, their previously blue mane becoming a slight orange. Whatever, it was probably just a fashion choice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the shorter Artikans that had fallen behind the rest of the group, now standing next to Catra, “Hey! I’m Miront, and you are?”

Catra debated her response. Their names hadn’t been shared much throughout their travels, and a name could hold power in this galaxy. On the other hand, they were supposed to be respectful, and this Artikan had already introduced themselves kindly, “My name’s Catra,” she gave with a somewhat stiff smile. She didn’t mean to seem unkind, but she still wasn’t used to doing this diplomatic stuff. She was kind of just the guard. Miront seemed unfazed by Catra’s expression anyway, so it couldn’t have been too bad.

“So, what exactly are you Etherians supposed to do? Magic has not been seen in centuries, though there have certainly been rumors these past couple of months,” they seemed curious, and Catra figured it couldn’t hurt to explain the process a bit. She had certainly never been asked about it before. Typically any civilization they encountered took the offer for restored magic without question, likely eager to gain back the world they had had before Prime’s invasion.

“Well my friend there is going to turn into a magical warrior, so don’t be surprised when that happens. Then she’ll basically just stab the floor and light the place up with magic,” she shrugged her shoulders, there really wasn’t much to it and Adora certainly knew how to explain it better.

The Artikan seemed fascinated anyway and kept asking questions that Catra did her best to respond to. They seemed a bit wary of Melog, which, it was understandable, but Miront looked at Melog with slight anger, something only the Krytan had noticed. Meanwhile, the magicat kept glancing at the group in front of her, listening to the quiet conversation that each of the Artikans had struck up with the rest of the quad. All slightly away from another pair, they asked so many questions, but they were all about another member of the Etherian group. Adora’s partner asked about Bow. Bow’s asked about Glimmer, Glimmer’s asked about Catra, and Catra’s asked about Adora, only the leader staying quiet at the head of the group.

Everything flowed easily with the help of the automatic translators, and the Artikans all looked very eager and interested, but something seemed off. Catra didn’t have time to investigate any further though because Bow called out a “We’re here!” and suddenly everyone was getting into position as Catra neared Glimmer and Bow’s sides. Her fur and ears stood up on end the moment the four Artikans stood behind them in a row and refused to budge. Melog, reacting to her emotions, grew in size and growled, their mane now spiky and red. Adora had already turned into She-ra, and she was lifting her sword off the ground before Catra got to call out a warning. In a flash, a light burst out of She-ra’s form as her sword plunged into the dirt and an Artikan was running towards her. Glimmer and Bow seemed confused for a second, but Catra was already throwing herself at one of the Artikans, specifically Miront, who was calling out orders to the Artikan next to her and pointing at Melog, “ _ Use the sedative!”  _ Catra saw red. They were going to put Melog to sleep, but why?

She didn’t care. Catra leaped on Miront’s back and pushed, knocking the both of them in the dirt, but leaving Miront inept for the moment. She watched Glimmer and Bow fighting off the other two Artikans, leaving one to stand right next to Adora, lifting their arm and readying a giant needle with some sort of substance. She looked back towards Melog and was angered to see them already down and shrinking in size, the fifth Artikan standing over them. She ran over and swiftly knocked them down with a hit to the head. She couldn’t do much for Melog at the moment, no matter how much it upset her, so she turned around to see what the Artikan with Adora was doing. They had already prepped the syringe and were preparing to stab the needle into Adora. The blonde couldn’t do anything. She had to finish giving the planet magic or she wouldn’t be able to leave her She-ra form without collapsing into exhaustion anyway. She was of no use in the fight either way, and Catra was already tackling the leader of the Artikan group to the floor, the needle bouncing away. Where had they even hid that thing?

She didn’t have time to utter a word before she found herself cornered by Miront and two other Artikans, one of which had gained the upper hand on Bow in hand to hand combat and left Glimmer to deal with the fourth one. They all smirked, it was an easy three versus one, and they had the upper hand while in home territory. Their smirks fell as Catra unsheathed her claws all the way, cutting through the gloves on her suit. They had no weapons, and it seemed like they could only fight in close-quarters combat, an advantage for Catra.

She let them charge at her first, the bulkier of the three running up to her in an attempt to tackle. It was a crap move, predictable, and Catra easily jumped over their form and kicked them in the head while the other two got closer and pulled her to the floor by her legs. She let out an ‘oof’ and rolled to the side just as Miront’s fist came down on the floor where her face had been. They weren’t holding back, but she hesitated to use her claws, she didn’t know why they were doing this, and killing wasn’t something she liked doing. The hesitation cost her as she jumped up from the ground only to be kicked by Miront’s partner in the stomach, and as Catra folded slightly, the bulky Artikan she had kicked earlier hit her ribs in a side kick. She couldn’t lose this, Glimmer was still struggling to take down the one Artikan that had gotten ahold of a staff, and Glimmer, without her own staff or magic, was left on the defensive even as they shifted closer to Adora.

Adora. 

Why hadn’t the process finished? She should have transferred all the magic necessary now. As she took a glance to her left, she realized why. The planet was rejecting her. Unlike Zowet, it wasn’t searching for more magic it was trying to block it, but they all knew that not finishing the transfer could leave Adora in a coma as She-ra, and she couldn’t have that. 

Catra felt a bruise forming on her face and torso, but as Miront’s partner and the other Artikan gripped her forearms to restrain her, she thought of a plan. “Why are you doing this? We’re only trying to help,” the message was choppy because of her damaged translator, but as she received a response she knew Miront was the type to monologue. 

“Help? No. We cannot have magic running through the universe. It would only ruin Artik, we have the upper hand in this entire section of the galaxy. Magic will only allow the other planets to defy our power,” Miront finished, shaking their head.

Catra smirked internally, so it was power they wanted. She would only have to stall a little longer as they shuffled her closer to the syringe that she had relocated in the ground, “Power? I know a thing or two about that. But your plan won’t work, we can always go to another planet, and work our magic there,” she was trying to antagonize them, and it was working. Just a little more.

“Another planet? No, you and your friends are not leaving. You will be held captive here, but your friend,” Miront pointed their finger at Adora, who was still pushing through to the planet, “She will be executed. For insurance, of course.”

Miront’s smile grew at Catra’s obvious anger. They had already hurt Melog, Adora was off-limits. It was her only thought as her claws grew, her wrists twisting to scratch the arms of both of the Artikans holding her. Catra slammed her knee into Miront’s partner and twisted to kick the other Artikan. They were knocked back by her claws digging into their chests, and the magicat spun around to kick Miront’s chest in a similar manner, the claws on her feet digging into the Artikan’s chest as well with her boots having been knocked off at some point in the fight. With the three of them disoriented and bleeding green blood, she stomped her foot into the syringe. A clear substance spilled into the ground. 

Catra turned to hear a breathy voice yelling, “ _ Throw plan B! _ ” and saw Miront’s partner pulling a round metal device out of- ah, an invisible satchel. She was too far to reach the Artikan in time, so she decided to block the throw instead. It was headed for Adora, who was just finishing with the magical transfer, the glow of She-ra dying out. Catra ran on all fours to intercept the weapon, and it exploded on her shoulder. A red mist filled her nostrils and she collapsed on the floor. Her vision immediately became blurred, and long strands of now blue grass blocked her view but she was able to tell what must have been She-ra using the last of her energy to take down the Artikan assailants, concerned eyes meeting Catra’s closing ones.

* * *

"What did you do to her," Adora stood in her She-ra form in front of the Artikans who had been tied up with her sword-turned rope. She interrogated them as Glimmer and Bow sat in Darla a few feet away, trying to get Catra to wake up and helping a drowsy but conscious Melog calm down. 

Miront's smirk hadn't faded since the moment the bioweapon had caught Catra's shoulder, even knowing that the universe had regained its magic. It filled Adora with rage. She hadn't been able to cure Catra with She-ra's energy, both from the lack of magic in her and whatever it was that was inside Catra. She was barely managing to keep her She-ra form, after that, she knew she would have to rest. 

"I'm done playing games," she walked up to Miront and dragged her up to face level by the collar of her suit, "I'm only going to ask one. more. time. What did you do to Catra," she yelled.

Miront's partner chuckled, the one who had thrown the weapon at Catra, "She's been infected by a virus resistant to magic. Just as this planet is, or, was," the reminder of it tugged down on the Artikan's smile a bit.

Miront was the one to answer the silent question between them and Adora, "There is no cure. She will die,'' maniacal laughter filled the silence of the area, and Adora turned back to look at the rest of the squad. She saw Catra's limp and now pale body on the cold, metal floor of the ship. Turning her head around, she threw Miront in anger at the other Artikans and went to get more rope from the ship. 

She was going to leave them on this barren field and if she ever spotted their faces again she would kill them.

* * *

Glimmer, Bow, Adora, and Melog all sat around Catra, who was hooked up to many wires in order to keep track of her vitals. It looked bad, and the beeping of the machines only got slower or more frantic as Catra slowly died from whatever it was that she had inhaled into her body. Melog was in Adora’s lap, their mane a sickly yellow-green as they whimpered. The blonde herself could barely keep her head up, and her eyes were closing for extended periods of time, failing to fool the couple in front of her that she was energized even a little bit.

“Adora? Maybe you should go to bed, we can take care of Catra-” Glimmer started in an unusually soft voice only for Adora to cut her off.

“No- I- there’s nothing to ‘take care of’! She’s going to die! You- You heard what Entrapta said, we can’t fix this here!” Adora’s angry voice filled the room, but they couldn’t deny that what she had said was true. Bow had messaged Entrapta with all the information they could get on the virus inside Catra, almost a day later and the tech princess sadly reported that there was nothing she could do, at least not without being present in the ship and taking more samples. But she couldn’t be there. Even with their light-speed jumps, the team wouldn’t make it in time. The virus was meant to act fast, and it was certainly taking its toll on Catra, who had yet to wake up or show any signs of improvement, as expected. They had an estimated two hours before Catra’s body fully shut down. Two hours that Adora was determined to stay awake, even if she had already gone past the recommended twelve hours of wake time after restoring magic to a planet and no longer being in She-ra form. 

“Then we’ll stay here until she passes, and when she wakes back up-” 

Glimmer tried to counter the argument again, hoping to get Adora to rest as Bow had given up a few hours ago. But it was the wrong thing to do, and Adora exploded, still reeling from her anger at the Artikans that they couldn’t even take as prisoners, “Why am I the only one who seems to care that she’s going to  _ die _ ?!,” tears formed in the corners of Adora’s eyes, “You’re both acting as if her deaths don’t matter,  _ every time _ , but they do! She acts as if it doesn’t affect her but it does, she had  _ nightmares _ now, from dying  _ over and over-” _

Glimmer stood in rage, up her eyes now filled with tears as well, “You’re not the only one who  _ cares _ , Adora! Catra has saved my life  _ so many times _ , but the one time I can still be there to help her- to stop her from dying-  _ I can’t do anything _ , and it  _ hurts.  _ She’s my friend- she’s  _ our _ friend- but- but there’s just nothing we can do- I- she-” the princess broke into sobs, finally letting out the emotions she had been hiding to spare Adora. 

Adora wasn’t the only one who cared about Catra now, though she seemed to forget it sometimes even years later. She immediately regretted yelling. She glanced at Bow and realized he too, had tears in his eyes. Catra was going to die again, and they couldn’t stop it. 

* * *

An hour and a half later, Catra had flatlined, and though the tears of everyone in the room had already dried out earlier, the only thing they could do now was wait for Catra to wake up again. 

Four lives left, they were less than the cautionary five Catra tried to keep all the time. The war was over, and yet, Catra had died almost as many times in three years as she had during the first half of the war. Her lives would now heal her faster, better; a peak before the downfall of the countdown to zero lives… again. She really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Instead of sitting up with a groan like she had all the other times she revived, Catra’s eyes snapped open and she leaped from the bed, adrenaline running through her veins and her pupils dilated to slits. It shook Adora awake with a start while Glimmer and Bow ran up to hug her. 

Energized, Catra returned the hug with double the force, no longer afraid to let herself be vulnerable. It wasn’t like she could have hidden her happiness anyway, as Melog was literally glowing and making small trilling sounds. 

“So, Sparkles, does my job as the Official Princess Alliance Guard get me paid by salary or…”

Everyone chuckled at Catra’s little joke (she was genuinely asking though), and when Glimmer glanced at Adora, Catra turned her head to look as well. The blonde looked terrible. There was no other way to describe the state she was in. Her clothes were clean, but it was likely only because of the spacesuit she wore over them. Her face, on the other hand, was covered in grime and dirt, noticeably blue dirt, but it didn’t make things any better. She had dark circles under her eyes and her ponytail was hanging on by the thread, her poof long having fallen out. Form slumped over and legs shaking from standing, Adora managed to keep a smile on her face anyway, the relief of seeing Catra alive and healthy again overpowering her body’s urge to collapse. 

Bow and Glimmer shared a look, deciding to leave the room to the other couple and giving Adora a slightly pointed look herself, not that she noticed. They squeezed Catras shoulder and went to their own quarters, Catra’s only clue about the problem being Adora herself. Luckily, she was much more perceptive than her girlfriend.

“Hey, Adora,” the magicat murmured.

The blonde smiled, trudging over to where Catra was, a feat in itself, and hugged her as tightly as she could, which wasn’t much, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,” she said in a soft voice.

“Not your fault. End of conversation.” Normally Adora would have insisted, even just a little, but this time, she simply shoved her face in the crook of Catra’s neck and nodded. She felt calm again, now that Catra was here, and her body followed suit. Her knees buckled slightly, and Catra held her up by the waist with ease, “Let’s get you to bed, dummy.” 

Melog helped keep the both of them up the rest of the way out of the healing room and in the hallway to their room, Catra making eye contact with Glimmer and Bow on the way there and giving them a reassuring smile. 

Adora kept mumbling something about punching and kicking, but she was about as coherent as when she was sleep fighting- she probably already was. 

Catra smiled to herself at the thought as she dumped the dead-weight blonde onto the bed, not even flinching as Adora bonked her head on the beadboard. Even without her stupid poof, she had a thick enough skull to resist basically and damn hit to the head. Although, it could explain why she was such an idiot sometimes.

Catra wondered if that extra bonk would make her more of an idiot. Oh well. Melog scolded her a bit, but she didn’t think it really mattered. 

She debated between going to cuddle next to Adora or letting her zoomies take over but figured that Adora would likely still be asleep after her zoomies, and she could have both. 

It was decided, Glimmer and Bow would be hearing random thumps around the ship for the next few hours and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

* * *

“Are you finished with your running around, Horde Scum,” Glimmer had come out of her and Bow’s room, ready to tackle Catra down herself in order to get some sleep, “Not everybody can sleep like a damn rock right now.”

“Sounds like a you problem, Sparkles,” Catra taunted as she pointedly looked at Bow, who was sleeping rather lightly now that he had adjusted to the thumps.

Glimmer groaned, “Ugh I totally regret telling Adora that I care about you.”

“Oh?” Catra’s interest had peaked, Glimmer didn’t admit that too often.

Said princess blushed slightly, “I do ya know- care about you. You're my friend, whether you like it or not Horde Scum!”

Her aggressiveness made up for the sappiness, totally.

“Well, I’m also your guard and royal advisor, but potato potahto,” Catra cast her gaze slightly downwards, “And, I care about you too Sparkles. Bow included.”

The pair stood in comfortable silence until they were startled by a loud ‘AWWW’ coming from none other than Bow himself, “I’m so proud of you guys!” He ran up to give them both a hug, and Melog trotted by showing off a glowing blue mane. Traitor.

“Hey, Catra…” Glimmer remembered what Adora had said when they were waiting for Catra to get better. The catgirl flicked an ear to show that she was listening, “Adora mentioned that you have nightmares from your deaths….I don’t think she meant to but…”

Catra herself sighed in resignation, she wasn’t going to be able to keep covering it up, “Yeah, it’s okay I trust you guys. I do get nightmares, most of the time it’s from the times I died during the war but- that first time I died again and just a couple months ago- those, they kind of messed me up.”

Bow and Glimmer were visibly upset, but especially Glimmer, who recalled just how many times she herself had been the cause of Catra’s death, “Oh stars, Catra I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, and all the times I killed you-”

“Hey, no. I don’t really mind so much when I get killed by accident, or when one of you guys kills me, that’s- well it’s not  _ fine _ but those aren’t the deaths that bother me so much. I mean sure, getting electrocuted reminded me a bit too much of Shadow Weaver- but that’s not the point! The point is that when I get killed by someone who actually wants me dead, like that guy who snuck into the meeting and actually  _ planned _ on murdering me, it makes it all a little more real. And drowning in those stupid green lakes reminded me a lot of Prime, but I think it was worth it.”

Bow still showed much concern about the situation, even with Catra’s attempts at reassuring them, “Have you talked about this with Perfuma? I mean I don’t know how you died in the war most of the time but, we’re here to help you if you want. I don’t think dying is a very nice experience and no matter what, it shouldn’t have to come to that.”

Catra winced at the mention of Perfuma. Even with the amount of times they had held their sessions through the tracker pad in space, it didn’t feel right to discuss the reemergence of so many troubles with dying, “I haven’t mentioned it just yet, but I swear I will. I just kind of want to wait until we get back.”

Bow seemed a little more assured with the response, but still, “Okay, just remember that we’re all here for you. You, Adora, and Glimmer all have your ‘Dealing with Emotions’ certificates, verified by me, Perfuma, Scorpia, and surprisingly- Frosta,” a cheery and proud smile adorned his face.

“...So does this mean we have to get rid of the scoreboard, because Sparkles is winning and I know she’s a sore loser.”

“CATRA!”

* * *

Two weeks and a light-speed jump later, the best friend squad was a week from Etheria. Adora had woken up about two days after their incident in Artik, and had simply been recovering her magic the rest of the time.

In that timeframe, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow talked about their feelings on the situation that was Catra dying. In fact, it was Adora who had come up to them and apologized (unprompted, Bow was so proud, another three years and maybe he’d be able to get Glimmer to do the same). Catra was taking a nap in the command room, curled up in the windowsill facing the stars. Everyone had taken a moment to aw at the sight and then rushed to Bow and Glimmer’s room where hopefully neither Melog nor the magicat would be able to hear them.

“Okay, okay, I have a plan,” as expected, Adora pulled out a tiny bulletin board; some habits were just too hard to break out of. She pointed on the yellow paper that had a tiny drawing of Scorpia on it and was titled: Catra’s Revivals, a diary by Scorpia : ), “Scorpia told me that after Catra’s fourth life, she has the five left, and so her body is just like ‘WARNING’ and she starts to revive faster. So her injuries are just gone, poof, completely- and she gets an adrenaline rush because her body doesn’t want to shut down again” she pointed to a similar paper, this one with a drawing of Entrapta on it. “So, in order to stop her from wasting any more lives, we have to just put padding everywhere.”

Adora seemed so deeply satisfied with her idea, and Glimmer slapped her forehead, sighing, “Adora, we can’t just death-proof everything. Besides, there’s already more peace on Etheria than there has been in years- even though we have been getting signs of trouble- it shouldn’t be a big deal! Catra probably won’t die anymore. We just have to keep stupid things away from her-”

“-and space,”

“And space,” Glimmer finished with a smile, “what’s the worst that could happen?”

“What’s the worst that could happen? What’s tHE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN??” Oops, it was clear now that Adora had already thought of the worst things that could happen- all of them. Her rant was going to last hours, or at least until Catra woke up, and Glimmer knew that there was no escaping this. Even without She-ra, Adora was a menace when it came to two things: Catra and Planning. Combined, she was unstoppable.

* * *

“We’re almost home!” 

Glimmer bounced around the command center excitedly. As much as she wasn’t looking forward to her queenly duties, she missed the other princesses, and Brightmoon was her home. They were about to enter the atmosphere, and after a pointed look from Bow, she hurriedly buckled into her seat.

Hands intertwined, Adora and Catra took one last look at the stars up close. They closed their eyes as Darla rumbled, Melog’s purplish mane giving away some of Catra’s uneasiness. Either way, the couples readied themselves to finally tough home ground, the excitement filling the room.

A resounding thud and Darla’s announcement alerted them of their successful landing on Etheria, and as the hatch of the ship opened, smiles grew on the Best Friend Squad’s faces at the simultaneous calls of joy at their arrival.

* * *

“And then this bitch fell in and got herself knocked out so I had to JUMP IN.”

“NO, ”Scorpia had her claws raised to her face in a gasp while Mermista, Frosta, Perfuma, and Seahawk all looked very interested. 

“Yup,” Catra told everyone in the room the story of how she died in space (the first time), much to Glimmer’s annoyance. Even Bow was filling in for some parts, adding extra ‘flair to the story’ he had said. “‘Was about to leave her there too but then I was like ‘oh wait Sparkles is paying me for this’”

“Get that bag,” Mermista cut in enthusiastically as Catra nodded along.

“See she gets it. Thank you, Fishy.”

“Anytime, Furball.”

Glimmer groaned, she liked it better when she and Catra teamed up.

“So…” Perfuma cut in unexpectedly, “does this mean we add a point to Glimmer on the leaderboard, or…” she glanced around questioningly.

“Well let me finish the story and then get to the next one, Petals, then we can talk. You’re still not off the hook for killing me, so don’t get your hopes up,” Catra smirked as Perfuma looked thoroughly disappointed that she remembered that.

“WE ARE GETTING RID OF THE SCOREBOARD, CATRA, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the sickness wasn’t really focused on in this chapter and it is like- nothing similar to what’s actually going on but where I am COVID-19 cases are still very high, so please, stay safe out there and protect yourself and others as best as possible!
> 
> Thanks for reading and constructive criticism is appreciated. : D

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea kind of popped out of nowhere, and instead of continuing to study battle tactics for my other Catra story, I started writing this. I wasn’t really sure what the tone for this is, and I still don’t know. Either way, what’s done is done and now I need to find seven other ways to kill Catra because unlike all my other works, this is not fully prewritten: big mistake.
> 
> Please, if you have any ideas for other ways to kill Catra, let me know. I have some of my own, but they aren’t great. It's likely that the rest of these chapters are going to be longer though, and I'll update within the week.
> 
> As always, I hope you liked the work. If not, I wish you the best in finding something good to read. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated : D.


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